Saturday, November 21, 2009

ONGOING COVERAGE: KENDALL YARDS

Vocal Point: Land use a tricky subject from all sides

C.K. Crigger
Correspondent
June 28, 2007

The phone rang about five minutes before I put supper on the table the other night. The caller was taking a survey about governmental concerns and wanted to know what I considered the most important issue in our state today.

Decisions, decisions! There are so many serious issues it's hard to choose. I hemmed and hawed before finally blurting out, "Land use."

I couldn't explain why I chose that subject on the spur of the moment, but after I put the surveyor off (a 15-minute interview while I'm cooking does nothing for the quality of our meal) her question kept coming back to me. She called about the same time an article appeared in The Spokesman-Review about developer Bob Holland, whose dredging for a new marina has ruined one of the few remaining kokanee spawning beds on Lake Pend Oreille. My first reaction to this story is that the guy should be hanged by his thumbs until he begs for mercy, then keep him hanging a little longer.

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Only a few days later, another story in the same vein appeared in the S-R, this one about Gregg Larson, a homeowner who lives on the hillside above Fernan Lake. Seems he took it upon himself to cut a road down the steep hill from his house so he would have a clear trail to his dock on the lake. That he also opened a path for water runoff, erosion and potential pollution evidently didn't concern him. Nor the fact that Fernan is on the verge of dying and needs all the help it can get to preserve water quality. His convenience, in his opinion, takes precedence, even though Coeur d'Alene city officials enacted an ordinance in 2003 meant to prevent this sort of thing. Of course, he pleaded ignorance.

I'm having a hard time understanding why anyone would deliberately destroy the very thing that makes their property valuable. A dead lake full of decaying fish and plant life? Who would want to own something like that?

But perhaps they expect the taxpayers to come to the rescue. Kind of like the Kendall Yards Development going on in downtown Spokane. I see the value of this development, really I do, and even agree it's probably a good use of land. I do have a problem with those who say the rise in everyone's property values – and what will be a commensurate increase in taxes – is a good thing. It may sound fine on the surface, but some homeowners may not be able to afford increased taxes. They'll only realize a benefit if the property is sold. What then? Where are they to go? This is gentrification at work, folks, and sometimes the results aren't pretty.

What these three stories have in common is that there's money behind every one of them, and in most cases, a good deal of clout. Land ownership allows you to do what you want with your own property, right? Shouldn't you be allowed to develop a resource you've paid for anyway that suits you?

The subject gets a bit sticky here. And I confess that I don't know the answer. I waffle on what I think from one minute to the next. As a true westerner whose family has worked the land for generations, I might say, "If it belongs to you, do as you like. Just have a little consideration for your neighbors." Kind of a throwback to the days of Western expansion, right? Only nowadays I might add, "And please preserve the land, and keep the water clean." This is something our ancestors often forgot in their quest to exploit the seemingly endless natural resources. Evidently there are people who still forget it, if it stands in the way of profits. Some things never change.

But we live in a world where open land is shrinking. We can't all do as we like. The prairies, prime farmland, are being covered with a gazillion houses and pavement. Large animals are zoned out of the city, even if a property owner has the room for them. Everyone needs water.

Do this, do that. It's the law.

Land use. Do what's good for the owner, or what's best for the majority?

Just when these depressed thoughts are about get the best of me, I remember some other news. Michael and Kerry Wiltzius, landowners on Peone Prairie, have declined offers from developers and designated 100 acres along Deadman Creek in perpetuity to protect the wildlife. They join Marie Feryn, who gave a substantial discount on land sold in the same area for the preservation of wetlands and a conservation area.

What a contrast in stories.

My dinnertime caller never called back to finish the survey. Just as well. I think I'd change my answer to something simple, like Washington's schools and how to fund them.