The Bonner County board of commissioners will hold a public land use hearing on Monday, Nov. 17, at 10 a.m. at the Bonner County Administration Building (1500 Highway 2, in Sandpoint) to reconsider the preliminary plat for the proposed Deerfield subdivision off of Baldy Mountain Road. The board denied the first preliminary plat application in September, citing a lack of information on the extent of the 32.67-acre property’s floodplain.
The development — owned by Deerfield, LLC, which is managed by outgoing Sandpoint City Councilor Rick Howarth — would create 24 lots, each between one and three acres. The suburban-zoned property borders the city-owned lot used by Baldfoot Disc Golf Course and intersects Syringa Creek.
The Bonner County Zoning Commission voted unanimously in June to recommend approval of the preliminary plat, subject to conditions, which included a stormwater runoff and erosion control plan and a topographical map of the parcel.
Conditional approval has been a standard of Bonner County developments for years; however, the current BOCC has argued that applicants should meet all conditions before bringing preliminary plats before the board for approval.
An aerial view of the proposed Deerfield Subdivision. Courtesy image
The BOCC continued its Aug. 14 meeting to September to give developers more time to update their application, making changes that Bonner County Planner and Certified Floodplain Manager Jason Johnson called “extremely minor,” some of which were only required because of “obsolete code.”
“[The developers] addressed five of the conditions, which is the maximum they could reasonably be expected to address at this point in the preliminary process,” Johnson said at the Sept. 9 meeting. “There’s no way that they could fulfill any of the other conditions that are on here.”
One such condition — a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency affirming or modifying the mapped floodplains on the property — proved to be the sticking point, leading commissioners to deny the application in September in a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Ron Korn dissenting.
The southern portions of the proposed development bisected by Syringa Creek — a U.S. Fish and Wildlife-designated wetland — cannot be developed and therefore do not count toward individual lot size. Though all proposed building locations are 20-30 feet above the current mapped floodplain, commissioners determined it would need updated or affirmed base flood elevations from FEMA prior to approval to ensure that the development wouldn’t create drainage and septic issues.
As required by Bonner County Code 14-501, “All subdivision proposals and other development proposals shall be consistent with the need to minimize flood damage and determined to be reasonably safe from flooding.”
The development would utilize individual septic systems; however, Panhandle Health District cannot accurately test the effectiveness of the proposed systems until developers have built the subdivision’s road and drainage systems, which will fundamentally alter the makeup of the site’s soil.
In September, the commissioners invited the applicants to reapply after hearing back from FEMA; however, the federal agency has yet to respond as of press time.
For more information or to submit public comments, visit bonnercountyid.gov/FileS0001-25.
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