Kootenai County delays decision on CZDA for proposed commercial resort; commissioners set July 24 continuance

Kootenai County commissioners on Thursday continued public hearings for zoning applications ZON24-007 and ZON24-008 to 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 24, after lengthy discussion about how a proposed commercial zoning development agreement (CZDA) would treat subdivision, minimum lot sizes and incidental uses at a proposed commercial resort on property owned by applicant Connie Brand.

The continuance came after staff and the applicant agreed to add language to the CZDA intended to designate which parcel would contain the commercial resort and to require that any subdivided parcels outside that designated commercial parcel revert to the underlying agricultural or rural zoning, including a 10-acre minimum lot size for those parcels.

The CZDA and related code questions mattered to commissioners because, as Director Callahan explained during the hearing, a commercial resort is normally approved through a conditional use permit and is intended to be primarily for recreational activities, with retail, restaurants and other services only allowed as incidental uses. Callahan said the county lacked a clear proposed recreational program for the site, a point staff said the CZDA needs to address.

"A commercial resort is normally a CUP process... it's expressly for recreational activities," Director Callahan said. "...all of the other things like retail shops, restaurants, fuel services, hotels, camping ... are…