Commissioners deny Deerfield Subdivision preliminary plat application

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

Reconvening after continuing its Aug. 14 meeting, the Bonner County board of commissioners met Sept. 9 to discuss the preliminary plat for the proposed Deerfield Subdivision. After nearly three hours of debate, the board voted 2-1 to deny the application, citing a lack of information on the property’s floodplain.

The proposed development — owned by Deerfield, LLC, which is managed by Rick Howarth, who also serves on the Sandpoint City Council — would divide approximately 32.67 acres into 24 lots, all between one and three acres. The property overlaps with Syringa Creek, borders the city-owned property currently used by Baldfoot Disc Golf Course and falls under the suburban zoning designation.

In June, the Bonner County Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the preliminary plat, subject to standard conditions such as a stormwater runoff and an erosion control plan approved by a Bonner County engineer and the submission of a topographical map. Though developers have in the past received conditional approval and then gone on to satisfy those conditions before submitting the final plat, Commissioners Brian Domke and Ron Korn argued that developers should provide all possible information before preliminary approval.

At the Sept. 9 meeting, Bonner County Planner and Certified Floodplain Manager Jason Johnson said that the “updated information” that the commissioners had requested last meeting was “extremely minor,” and that some changes — like the addition of a redundant topographical map — were the result of an “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,” said Johnson. “There’s no way that they could fulfill any of the other conditions that are on here.”

One such condition was a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency affirming or modifying the mapped floodplains on the property. The southern portions of the development — bisected by Syringa Creek, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife-designated wetland — cannot be developed. The wetlands do not count toward individual lot size, and all proposed building locations are 20-30 feet above the current mapped floodplain.

Domke identified possible drainage issues as one of his chief concerns for the properties, which will utilize individual septic systems. However, Panhandle Health District cannot accurately test whether the proposed systems will be effective until developers build the road and drainage systems, thereby altering the soil’s makeup. 

The commissioners agreed Aug. 14 that the concern could be addressed after approval of the preliminary plat, but that the board could not give developers the green light without hearing from FEMA. The agency confirmed receipt of the developers’ application but had not made an official decision as of the Sept. 9 hearing.

“My question is: How can the board determine that the proposed subdivision is safe from flooding without the base flood elevations having been confirmed?” asked Domke at the Sept. 9 meeting.

Domke and BOCC Chair Asia Williams both pointed to Bonner County Code 14-501 as one reason for their objections, which states, “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.”

Johnson said that the language is “a term of art” from FEMA, but essentially stipulates that subdivisions must comply with all county code governing floodplains, which the Deerfield application does. He went on to argue that the “code is in error” and should not require that developers list floodplains on plats.

“Floodplains are not surveyable boundaries; they shouldn’t be shown on plats,” said Johnson, explaining that developers and county officials have to go off of separate FEMA maps anyway. “Also, we don’t control the floodplain. The floodplain is federal, and it’s controlled by the federal government through FEMA.”

Korn, Johnson, Planning Director Jake Gabell and Deputy Prosecutor Bill Wilson agreed that the applicants had fulfilled all requirements stipulated in the code to have the preliminary plat approved. Further, Deerfield, LLC legal counsel Dan Rodriguez echoed other county officials in warning that denying the application would likely result in litigation.

“Our position is this: we have complied with everything the code requires,” said Rodriguez, later adding, “The applicant is stuck between a rock and a hard place because they can’t make any of the changes they’d need to make in order to get final FEMA approval unless the preliminary plat is approved.”

Rodriguez further argued that denying the application would only cost the developers time and money, forcing them to wait until 2026 “to even see whether we can build on either of these pieces.”

When asked for additional comment, Howarth told the Reader that Rodriguez’s arguments are the “only comments that the applicant has at this time.”

After going through every section of the application, Domke made a motion to deny the preliminary plat. The motion passed with Korn dissenting. Williams called the denial a “roadblock” and said that the applicants could return when FEMA approves the floodplain map.

“We’ve said, ‘Yes,’ to most of this [the application],” said Williams. “There’s information that’s not there.”

For more information, visit bonnercountyid.gov/FileS0001-25.

Correction: In the previous version of this article, we reported that Dan Rodriguez “also serves as chief deputy prosecutor for Bonner County.” Rodriguez left his position to work for Davillier Law Group in late July. We regret the error.