Commissioners temporarily halt minor land divisions, place restrictions on RV parks

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

Bonner County commissioners made two decisions at the March 25 business meeting that will affect future population density and land use, approving a 182-day moratorium on all minor land divisions and family exemptions. The Bonner County Planning Department intends to use the time to close a loophole in the code that allows for the creation of de facto subdivisions without the necessary infrastructure to support them.

The commissioners also banned recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds in rural areas, following a code amendment proposed by the group Keep Bonner County Rural.

The MLD moratorium item didn’t appear on the agenda until the day of the meeting, taking some by surprise. According to Idaho Open Meeting Law, anything acted upon in a public meeting must be agendized and noticed 48 hours before the meeting. However, Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Bill Wilson argued that the discussion on MLDs and family exemptions constituted an emergency under Idaho Code.

“We’ve done this on an emergency basis because we didn’t want to let people know in advance so that they would come submit stuff,” said Wilson, adding that the current code threatens “health, safety, welfare.”

Planning Director Jake Gabell (left) presents the MLD and family exemption moratorium to Bonner County Commissioners Brian Domke, Asia Williams and Ron Korn (right). Photo courtesy of YouTube.

“It’s important that we put that on the record because we are kind of going against the ordinary notice and agenda process,” he added.

Wilson later cited Idaho Code 74-204, which defines an emergency as “a situation involving injury or damage to persons or property, or immediate financial loss, or the likelihood of such injury, damage or loss, when the notice requirements of this section would make such notice impracticable or increase the likelihood or severity of such injury, damage or loss.”

Bonner County Revised Code 12-6.6 defines an MLD as the act of splitting a parcel into four or fewer contiguous lots “provided that no planned unit development is requested to accommodate the proposed lot sizes.” Likewise, a family exemption gives landowners the right to sell or gift a portion of unplatted land to spouses and close relatives. Both divisions are intended to create small collections of homes, and so do not have the same infrastructure requirements needed to apply to create a subdivision.

“We tried to keep this pretty close to the vest within the [county] organization. Apparently, we were not totally successful at that because, yesterday, one of our local land use professionals came in with seven applications — combinations of minor land divisions and family exemptions — and that’s just an example of what we wanted to avoid because we want this to stop,” said Wilson.

Commissioner Ron Korn said he understood the need to alter the code but questioned whether the loophole was enough of an emergency to warrant the secrecy.

“How do we justify [that] a land use issue that we’ve had in place for years all the sudden becomes ‘imminent peril?’” he asked.

Commissioners Asia Williams and Brian Domke agreed with legal counsel that the loophole threatened public health and safety, and voted to add the moratorium to the agenda without officially noticing it. They later voted to approve the item 2-1, with Korn dissenting.

Bonner County Planning Director Jake Gabell testified that his department “has identified some public health and public safety concerns” due to the current land use regulations in Bonner County Revised Code Title 12.

“These processes have led to underregulated land division that often lacks adequate infrastructure and presents long-term challenges for emergency access, fire protection and stormwater management,” he said, citing County Code sections that have led to “conflicting interpretations and inconsistent enforcement” of minor land divisions.

Gabell identified multiple infrastructure issues, including a lack of regulations on road width, surfacing and accessibility measures for first responders; a lack of fire mitigation requirements such as defensible space and adequate water supply; no stormwater management requirements, leading to “drainage and flooding hazards”; and other public safety concerns.

“This pause will provide the necessary time for the county to review and amend its land use regulations to better align with the adopted planning goals, infrastructure standards and public safety requirements,” said Gabell.

To ensure property owners can safely divide their land in the meantime, the Planning Department will change the definition of a short plat, which is a division into five to 10 contiguous lots, to “any land division into 10 or fewer lots or parcels.” Unlike MLDs and family exemptions, short plats have the same infrastructure requirements as subdivisions.

“This has not been a lighthearted decision by the planning staff in our request to work with legal. I’ve lost sleep over this, to be honest. This is not something, as a director, that I take lightly,” said Gabell.

Project 7B member Katie Botkin and Bonner County Road and Bridge Staff Engineer Matt Mulder also supported the moratorium.

“The buzzwords ‘health, safety and welfare’ kind of get to me,” said Korn. “I really don’t like using that as reasons to do things, such as taking away people’s personal rights,” adding that he had not seen any examples of infrastructure issues that would necessitate stricter regulations on private property.

He further cautioned against halting the family exemption due to the high cost of living making it difficult for younger generations to stay in or return to the area without their parents splitting up family property.

“My obligation within LLUPA [Local Land Use Planning Act] addresses ‘health and safety,’ so it actually is a requirement that I take a look at that,” said Wiliams, adding that, while costs to the individual dividing their property will likely go up, the welfare of the community takes precedence.

The Planning Department will now begin working on code changes. The moratorium will be in effect until Tuesday, Sept. 23, or until the county adopts a new ordinance to fix the loophole. The process will include multiple meetings and public workshops, beginning as soon as Tuesday, April 1, according to Gabell.

Finally, the BOCC considered a code amendment proposed by Keep Bonner County Rural Chairman Dave Bowman and presented by the group’s planning consultant, Susan Bowman, which proposed banning RV parks and campgrounds as allowed uses on property zoned Forestry, Agriculture/Forestry and Rural. The change would not affect the two RV spaces currently allowed on parcels over one acre or the one space on parcels under one acre, nor would it affect existing RV parks.

The amendment comes in response to a December 2020 decision by the BOCC to allow RVs in rural areas and strike the previous requirement that limited occupancy to 120 consecutive days.

Bowman’s proposal cited examples of how “RV parks are negatively impactful to rural character,” such as the increased fire hazard due to density; light and noise pollution; a lack of regulations to ensure adequate water supply; and a lack of infrastructure needed to support RV traffic, among other issues.

“We’re not against RV parks in their proper place. They do not belong where the people live. We moved here for a reason — to be in a residential, rural place,” said Susan Bowman.

Korn agreed with the concept but stated that he “would like this motion to be a little more specific and not such a wide umbrella.” He also proposed looking into the allotted RV spots on individual properties, as they are used as rentals rather than primary housing.

Williams and Domke agreed that there were facets of the issue they should look into further, but decided it was important to institute the blanket ban immediately.

“I do think that we have what’s essentially a loophole for residential density that circumvents what’s intended by current zoning,” said Domke.

“I think we need to plug that loophole now because there are concerns that I think are legitimate for health and safety as well as the potential of compromising both the rural character and the nearby property values of the adjacent land owners,” he added, proposing that the county make more specific adjustments using the current Comprehensive Plan update.

The motion passed with Korn dissenting.