By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff
The Bonner County Zoning Commission will meet Thursday, July 23 at 5:30 p.m. to consider a request from Stonehedge Partners, LLC, to rezone more than nine acres along Ellisport Bay from Rural-5 to Recreation. The applicants have yet to submit any proposals for potential future development.
The 9.23-acre property consists of eight lots off Cedar Lane, separated from Lake Pend Oreille by a ninth containing mapped wetlands. The surrounding property is zoned Rural-5 and Recreational.
Rural-5 zoning is intended for low-density residential uses and allows for “scale farming and forestry activities, and tourism and recreation uses that can be supported by rural service levels and are compatible with rural character.”
Recreational zoning includes similar housing types in a more condensed area, while also allowing for commercial and private resorts and decisions that “enhance the recreational opportunities” of the area. Approved uses include boat storage, docks, marinas, hotels, recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds.
Should the county rezone the property, any future proposed development would still require additional applications and approval. According to the application, any potential development would be served by Ellisport Bay Sewer, Sam Owen Fire District and private wells.
In a letter included in the county’s staff report, Sam Owen Fire Chief Tim Scofield stated that the district “strongly requests that the Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners deny the request” to rezone, because Recreation zoning “inherently allows for increased density, which will directly compound existing infrastructure deficits and create severe life-safety hazards.”
Among other concerns, Scofield listed ingress and egress issues on Peninsula Road and Cedar Lane.
“The county should defer any zoning adjustments until a complete, fully engineered traffic, road width and water infrastructure plan is made available for fire district review,” continued Scofield.
Area opposition has also highlighted potential environmental damages from development and increased traffic, including impacts to area wetlands that provide significant habitat for bald eagles, black crappie and kokanee, according to resident, geologist and geotechnical and environmental engineer Ken Green. Green has compiled a more than 30-page “Environmental Baseline and Ecological Vulnerability Assessment,” which he submitted to the county and includes data outlining the effects of erosion on the bay and catalogs fauna and vegetation, among other research.
“We recognize that reviewing a zone change application naturally invites questions from the Commission and community regarding the scale, density and environmental impacts of whatever might eventually be built on the site,” wrote applicant representative Jeremy Grimm, of Whiskey Rock Planning + Consulting, in the narrative statement. “However, it is vital to emphasize that this application is solely for a zone change to establish the correct, plan-aligned baseline for the property.”
“We respectfully remind the Commission that approving this zone change does not bypass a single environmental, infrastructure or neighborhood protection. Bonner County’s code is strictly designed to handle the ‘next steps’ of development,” he added.
Attend Thursday’s meeting in person at the Bonner County Administration Building (1500 Highway 2, in Sandpoint), or via Zoom by visiting bonnercountyid.gov/meetings. The public hearing will also discuss the proposed 12-lot subdivision Yoman Bluffs, located off of Sherwood Beach Road on Priest Lake.
