Green is our environment - and developers' money

Back in May 1982, Bonner County commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a change from rural to recreational zoning for 720 acres of the Old McGhee farm surrounding Pack River Flats.

Simple enough, right? Just routine? Hardly. Months later that decision would be litigated by the Panhandle Environmental League and the Bonner County Sportsman's Association, with a judge ruling the county's process had not provided the proper analysis and had to be redone.

But that summer, after new impact reports were completed, the commissioners reviewed and then passed the proposal for a second time, setting the stage for the final act: On Sept. 19, 1983, William Berry and Villelli Enterprises requested and were granted a conditional use permit to build a 27-hole golf course.

The war over the Hidden Lakes Golf Course was a watershed for this community. The land deals to create the 200-lot development at Huckleberry Bay on Priest Lake still were years away; something called Schweitzer Village remained someone's dream; the Bonner Mall sat isolated and almost empty.

But here, in the rural Pack River area where in July 1983 local resident Tim Templeton would document sightings of four elk with calves, three moose with calves and an adult bear and three cubs, our future development course would be set.

Now fast-forward to Oct. 14, 2000. County commissioners voted to approve phase 2 of Villelli Enterprises' three-phase planned unit development at the Hidden Lakes Resort. Since the golf course has been around for a decade and 57 lots have been subdivided northwest of the fairways, the proposal now includes the inevitable: 26 single- family homes, 36 multifamily condos and a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse.

So, as 18 years have passed and houses have spread along the shores as quickly as Eurasian milfoil in the lake, we must ask ourselves: Is this how we really want it up here?

An independent poll published in The Spokesman-Review recently said Idahoans were more concerned about the environment than jobs by two to one. Indeed, I think it always has been that way. But so often, deep desires get lost and compromised when set into county policy. For example, the very old but very dear Comprehensive Plan for County Land Use says citizen input by county residents is overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining their rural character.

Supporting this are the county conclusions on the original zone change for Hidden Lakes, stating in part that a minimum of residential development should take place in the area. But in that same plan, it says the recreation classification is intended to allow for urban residential densities in remote, scenic areas. And so, with virtually all lake- and river-front land planned as recreational, you can kiss "remote and scenic" goodbye, and wait for house lots to surround all our water bodies, as is the case at Hayden Lake.

Governments always are trying to split fine hairs between competing groups, but to say we want to preserve rural character and then set up planning to allow the potential for urban densities along the entire lake is contradictory.

I am sadly convinced that the fight isn't really over protecting the rural character or about saving our environmental quality. It's always been about money. About getting money, keeping money, storing up money in huge piles. It's about pretending to serve the community while setting up bank accounts in other states. It's about money driving values.

I suspect Villelli, Inc., people did not walk around the waters and meadows of Pack River and feel so baptized by the crisp fall air that they collectively said: "Hey, let's come in here and spend our money to improve wildlife habitat." They came to make a buck. That's all.

I suppose you could say that even our icon of the past, David Thompson, came here to make a buck, not unlike the first lumberjacks and miners. Like many of us, they stayed because the beauty had captured their hearts.

Be oh so careful, Bonner County. Trees grow back, wildlife may repopulate an area. But wonder does not return once the sour taste of development has spoiled the waters. That wonder is the well at which we all drink. Don't sell it to the highest bidder.

Copyright 2000 Cowles Publishing Company
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