AG’s office rules Ron Korn did not violate state criminal law

Planning Commission approves revisions to county land division code

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

After a five-month investigation into accusations that Bonner County Commissioner Ron Korn violated state law by leaking confidential information about a then-upcoming BOCC decision, the Idaho Attorney General’s Office ruled that bringing criminal charges against Korn would “not be appropriate.” 

According to the findings — which Korn read aloud at the Sept. 23 board of commissioners meeting — the email he shared with an unnamed member of the public was not confidential, as it was not labeled as such and contained no information that would exempt it from public records requests.

The email came from former-Planning Director Jake Gabell, who in March brought forward concerns regarding imprecise code language governing minor land divisions. Though not marked as confidential, Gabell requested that the BOCC institute an emergency moratorium at the following business meeting without publishing advanced notice so that developers wouldn’t have the forewarning to submit applications ahead of the decision.

“To avoid a serial meeting and any allegations of Open Meeting Law violation, I believe it is best to refrain from any communications in person or in writing regarding this request until it is brought before the board on Tuesday morning,” Gabell wrote at the time.

According to Gabell, the language in Bonner County Revised Code 12-6 and related sections had led to “conflicting interpretations and inconsistent enforcement” that allowed for the creation of de facto subdivisions without the infrastructure needed to support such developments.

“Although the MLD process was originally created to provide an efficient and cost-effective review pathway for smaller-scale land divisions, practical experience demonstrated that the reduced applicable standards sometimes resulted in developments that lack sufficient infrastructure,” said Interim Planning Director Alex Feyen at the Sept. 16 Planning Commission meeting. “These conditions created potential issues for emergency responders, increased the risk of fire hazards in rural areas and, in certain cases, led to drainage or stormwater management concerns.”

The BOCC instituted the emergency 182-day moratorium on MLDs in March to give staff time to workshop and revise the code; however, land use professional Dan Provolt was able to submit seven applications before the vote. Provolt later claimed that the applications had been completed well in advance of the submission date and that the coincidental timing was spurred, in part, by conversations with Gabell.

The commissioners later determined that, due to a technicality with the way Commissioner Brian Domke phrased the motion to adopt the moratorium, the board had inadvertently violated Idaho Open Meeting Law. The commissioners voted to cure the violation in April and then reinstituted the moratorium beginning May 19 and ending Wednesday, Oct. 1.

Korn voted in opposition to the moratorium in both instances and later admitted to being the likely source of Provolt’s information, having shared Gabell’s email with an undisclosed third party. The statement from the AG’s office did not identify who Korn contacted with the information on the moratorium, but said that “Korn told our investigator that he sent Gabell’s email to a single person, and only did so to ask whether enacting the moratorium as an emergency action was lawful.”

When asked at the Sept. 23 meeting to whom he had sent the email, Korn said, “I’m not going to disclose that right now.”

“Nothing in the investigation even suggests that Korn stood to benefit financially from disclosing the email, or that he disclosed it to any person who stood to financially benefit and in whose welfare Korn is interested,” according to the AG’s findings.

Meanwhile, the investigation uncovered that an unnamed individual sent former-Planning Commissioner Joshua Pilch, of J&J Development, LLC, a text message showing Gabell’s original email. Pilch refused to identify the sender but told the AG’s Office that the text “did not come from Korn” and that he did not receive any other information about the moratorium.

Pilch resigned from his position on the Bonner County Planning Commission in January 2023 after he was charged with three felonies for child sexual abuse and sexual battery of a minor. Pilch pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the case was dismissed without prejudice less than a month before the trial date, with Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall claiming that further investigation was needed, according to coverage by the Bonner County Daily Bee.

Pilch and his company are now embroiled in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit over the Mountain Homestead development north of Ponderay. Created using MLDs, the lawsuit alleges that developers — and more than 50 other individuals and entities, including the county — conspired to build and sell the homes with infrastructure defects that have led to contaminated drinking water and flooding, among other issues.

Residents of Mountain Homestead have drawn connections between the alleged issues with the development and the imprecise code language regarding MLDs. As of Sept. 22, legal counsel for the plaintiffs and defendants in the RICO lawsuit were working to schedule proceedings with District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford.

In an attempt to prevent future development issues, the Bonner County Planning Commission voted unanimously Sept. 16 to approve proposed alterations to County Code, replacing the MLD process with “short” (10 or fewer parcels) and “long” (11 or more parcels) subdivisions. All divisions must undergo infrastructure and service capacity reviews, which will help gauge how development would impact area schools, road networks and water and sewer districts. It further requires sanitary restriction lifts and wastewater feasibility reviews from Panhandle Health District, which certify that the property is suitable for water and sewage hookups.

The changes will not go into effect until voted on by the BOCC at a yet undetermined date.