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  Coeur Terre and the "Other" 600 Acres

  Mar 4, 2023

  This article features a guest column by a Post Falls author who has done extensive research on Coeur Terre over-development.    He makes the excellent point that the 440 acres proposed development east of Huetter Road, which has already generated enormous controversy, is less than half of the anticipated development of the area. 

  Lakeside Companies also owns over 600 acres to the West of Huetter, and the development of that portion involves many unknown and undisclosed factors.   So all the unresolved issues already pointed out by residents are only half the likely problems. 

  The Coeur Terre developers claim that the project has been "10 years in the planning", and that it "incorporated the feedback of 13 agencies and more than 40 agency staff members". Yet even the most obvious problems with the project, such as traffic congestion, the fate of the Huetter bypass, and neighborhood access to I-90 access, have not been addressed.   

  Perhaps the competence of the "planners" and "agencies" behind Coeur Terre is open to serious question, or perhaps the whole idea of such a large "Master Planned" community  in Kootenai is a non-starter.  As anyone who has studied history knows, "central planning" by unaccountable elistists, whose "vision" for a community are not shared by the population at large, are always detrimental. 

   

  Confusion in Coeur Terre

  The most recent article in the CDA Press on the Coeur Terre project notes that the Developer has agreed to 'limit' the 440 acre section to 2,800 homes yet the Press also continues to support what is clearly a myth by stating that the overall project, an additional 600 acres, will have 'approximately 4500 homes'.   A simple extrapolation of 2800/440 = 6.36 potential housing units per acre, multiply that by 600 acres = 3,816  add in the 2800 'max' and the total units in the 1040 acres becomes approximately 6,600 not approximately 4500.    

  Additionally, while the "undiscussed' 600 acre portion is in the Post Falls sphere of influence, the Developer and the City of Post Falls have noted that the Developer is intending to annex that land into the City of CDA, NOT Post Falls.  That would suggest the CDA School District would be providing schools, not Post Falls, and would also seem to suggest that the 30 acres for schools planned in the 440 acres of land would be 'the' schools for the 600 remaining acres, so it could be assumed that there would be 30 'more' acres available for homes in the 600 acre section, implying perhaps 200-300 additional homes?   

  And why contemplate just Coeur Terre's  initial 440 acre annexation?  There are another 40 acres east of Huetter not owned by the CT Developer.  What zoning will those remainder properties get?  They all seem to border R-17 or C-17 designations in the CT Plan so let's add 40 acres at 17 units per acre or 680 additional homes.  Isn't 7000 homes extremely likely?

  The 1040 acre plan should be annexed in all at once, fully formed, limited to a maximum number of units, with a requirement for a full interchange connection to the freeway at Huetter before the 500th unit is occupied.  Annexation is a discretionary vote, there are no 'rights' to be annexed.   No Annexation Now.

  A Disaster on Any Terms

  At NISGR we agree  with the author's conclusion that the most serious problems associated with the Coeur Terre project should be addressed before requesting annexation.  However, we prefer phased annexation, rather than over-ambitious central planning.   

  But maybe it doesn't matter.   Any thousand acre development in North Idaho designed by globalist planners according to S.M.A.R.T. principles and funded with unlmited coffers of corporate cash is a disaster in the makings, no matter how you slice it. 

  Note:  If you are a Post Falls resident and would like to be on the Burns email list, contact burns_crew@yahoo.com.

   

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