SANDPOINT, Idaho — A zoning change is on the table in Bonner County, potentially making way for more real estate development near Schweitzer Mountain Ski Area.
Needless to say, there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered in regards to moving forward with this development and how it will impact surrounding areas.
AM0005-24 is a proposal that would rezone more than 1,500 acres near Schweitzer, from agriculture or forestry land, to Alpine Village, which would allow for thousands of new residential or commercial units to be built on that land.
During Wednesday's Bonner County Board of County Commissioners Planning meeting, it was brought up that Schweitzer Mountain property's application had a few details about future plans for the property.
"This has been a matter of public record for quite some time, so there is nothing nefarious happening here," Daniel Britt, Schweitzer's project representative, said.
Britt said the area was designated by Schweitzer for future expansion in maps submitted to Bonner County nearly 40 years ago. Britt also wanted to make it clear that with the application, it would rezone a large area into Alpine Village.
"So when we are looking at that, we are really drilling down to approximately 450 acres or so," Britt said.
During public comment at Wednesday's meeting, several community members raised concerns over water supply to those areas, eventually, along with the lack of public roads.
"I do believe that the staff report was inadequate in terms of evaluating this request," Susan Drumheller, a board member for Project 7B, a nonprofit that advocates for responsible land use planning in Bonner County, said.
Drumheller said that at this point in time, there are more questions than answers when it comes to their plans.
"I really do think there [is] legitimacy to denying this [and] sending folks back to the drawing board to at least provide better information to the public prior to these meetings," Drumheller said.
Towards the end of the meeting, Asia Williams, chair of the county commissioners, said she did not feel comfortable making a decision on the future of the area without more information from Schweitzer and doing research on the history of the area.
"I'm not willing after hearing both sides of this to make a decision that doesn't have me knowing where this is going, because right after this, you're basically asking me to make a decision of what this will be without some of those questions answered," Williams said.
After the meeting, Williams tabled the request until she was able to look at all the information and digest it all, saying that this is a huge decision because once it's in motion, there is no going back.
The next hearing on the matter is set for Thursday, December 12 at 1:30 p.m.