Some local residents expressed concerns about the eventual water supply to these areas, along with the lack of public roads.
SANDPOINT, ID — A zoning change is being considered in Bonner County that could pave the way for more real estate development near Schweitzer Mountain Ski Area.
Needless to say, there are still many questions to be answered about moving forward with this development and how it will affect the surrounding area.
AM0005-24 is a proposal to rezone more than 1,500 acres near Schweitzer from agricultural and forestry land to Alpine Village, allowing thousands of new residential and commercial units to be built on the land.
At Wednesday’s Bonner County Board of County Planning meeting, it was brought up that the application for the Schweitzer Mountain property included several details about future plans for the property.
“This has been in the public record for quite some time, so there’s nothing malicious going on here,” said Daniel Britt, Schweitzer’s project director.
Britt said the area was designated for future expansion on maps Schweitzer submitted to Bonner County nearly 40 years ago. Britt also wanted to clarify that the application would rezone a large area to Alpine Village.
“So as we’re exploring it, we’re actually drilling down to about 450 acres or so,” Britt said.
During public comment at Wednesday’s meeting, several area residents expressed concerns about the lack of water supply and, by extension, public roads in these areas.
“We believe the staff report was inadequate in evaluating this request,” said Susan Drumheller, director of Project 7B, a nonprofit organization that advocates for responsible land use planning in Bonner County. spoke.
Drumheller said there are more questions than answers about the plan at this point.
“I really think so. [is] Justification for denying this [and] At least before these meetings, we’re putting people back to the drawing board to provide better information to the public,” Drumheller said.
Toward the end of the meeting, County Commission Chair Asia Williams said she was concerned about making decisions about the area’s future without more information from Schweitzer and research into the area’s history.
“I’m not going to make a decision without knowing how this situation is going to go after hearing both sides. Because right after this, you’re basically making me make a decision about how this is going to go without some input.” ‘Because we’re asking you to make decisions.’ We’ve got answers to those questions,” Williams said.
After the meeting, Ms. Williams said she would shelve the request until she could see and digest all the information and said it was a big decision because once it gets underway, there’s no going back.
The next public hearing on this matter is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 12 at 1:30 p.m.
