A few weeks ago the Kootenai County Unified Land Use Code (ULUC) Technical Committee wrapped up their review of the initial draft and made their final recommendations to consultants Kendig Keast and the Kootenai County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). The technical committee members must be applauded for all of the time and detailed attention they have poured into the editing of this document. This more »
In the Upper Coeur d’Alene Basin resides one of the largest and most complex Superfund sites in the country, Bunker Hill. From the 1880s to the early 1980s, the Silver Valley was the nation’s largest producer of silver, lead, zinc, and other metals. The mining and processing generated large quantities of heavy-metal-related waste materials containing toxic substances such as cadmium, arsenic, lead, and zinc. Much more »
Consumers today are more conscientious than ever about where their food is sourced and how it is grown. Since the passing of The Organic Food Production Act in 1990, the organic food industry in the U.S. has grown at a rate of 20-30% per year, making it the fastest growing sector in the food market. Growing awareness of the quality and nutrient value of the more »
From the KEA Board of Directors: If you value the life you enjoy in the county, we urge you to support the adoption of the county’s Unified Land Use Code. The code will implement the newly adopted comprehensive plan and replace current codes that are decades old. Right now the new code is being assaulted by people claiming their private property rights will be taken more »
Although it seems to have fallen on deaf ears, here’s a great letter from conservative east side Republican Chris Fillios to the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee regarding the Unified Land Use Code controversy. It’s not just KEA with concerns about the “property rights” concerns: I understand tonight’s Republican Central Committee meeting is for the purpose of passing the resolution re: the ULUC, ensuring the more »
One more thing on the unenlightened ULUC opposition. Opponents need to recognize that being against the new code has the same effect as being for the old one. Until a new code is passed, the old one is still in effect. The purported “property rights” issues in the ULUC already exist — in the current code. But much worse. The reality is that Idaho state more »
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. But thanks to the efforts of the Larry Spencer wing of the local Republican Party, a long-overdue overhaul of local land use codes is in jeopardy because of irrational fear of an obscure and utterly irrelevant international document. First, some background. For the 85% of Americans who will have no idea what this uproar is about, Agenda 21 is a 20-year-old more »
Wow. I leave town and two weeks later, crazy takes over. From relentlessly sunny Southern California, I noted the recent and growing uproar over Kootenai County’s land use code re-write. And from here, where the sprawl goes on and on and on for miles, the growing opposition to Kootenai County’s Unified Land Use Code (ULUC) project appears to be either pointlessly obstructionist or appallingly uninformed. more »
Yesterday, the CDA Press reported that the Kootenai County Commissioners were “scrapping a proposal to expand shoreline protection requirements” in the re-writing of the zoning and development codes. And, in one sense, it is true that the Commissioners and the consultant and the Advisory Committee panel have gone back to the drawing board. But rather than this being some political victory for property rights, or more »
We’ve been tracking the Bonner County Property Rights Council for some time. Lately, we were following the PRC application on behalf of Lawrence and Nels Heidekker, owners of a problematic junkyard near Priest River. The junkyard, currently subject to a code enforcement action by Bonner County, appeared to be attempting to avoid the enforcement action by going through the PRC instead. According PRC documents and more »
