Bonner County commissioners voted Oct. 29 to approve a framework that allows local communities to pursue railroad crossing quiet zones by retaining a consultant engineer to perform studies, design required safety upgrades and manage ongoing maintenance, with the consultant and upgrade costs borne by the requesting community.

The measure directs the Road & Bridge Department to pursue selecting a consultant engineer to act as the county's quiet-zone proponent and to return to the board with a professional-services agreement, scope of work and fee for later approval. The motion, approved by roll-call vote after public comment, left the foundational framework open to subsequent amendments to add requirements such as a performance bond and a minimum account balance to cover reversion costs so the county would not absorb future liabilities.

Why it matters: Quiet zones eliminate routine train horn blasts at crossings but require physical upgrades and recurring inspections so safety is maintained without horns. County staff, commissioners and residents agreed the changes could improve quality of life for nearby neighborhoods but raised concerns about long-term maintenance costs, legal liability and who pays if a community's account falls short.

What Road & Bridge presented: Matt Mulder, staff engineer for the Road & Bridge Department, described Bonner County's first quiet zone at Kootenai Bay (implemented in 2020) as a trial that required community fundraising ($15,000 initially) and ongoing county involvement. Mulder estimated ongoing, true lifetime costs for that effort at around $50,000, noting that many future crossings could require "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in site-specific upgrades. He proposed a two-tier model: the county would contract a single consultant as the county's proponent, and each interested community would retain that consultant and fund the site-specific work, maintenance and federally required recertifications in perpetuity.

Commissioner concerns and board direction: Commissioners pressed staff on several risk points: how to ensure a community does not underfund maintenance or reversion to a horn-required crossing; whether an LLC or escrow account model would be needed; whether a performance bond or minimum fund balance should be required; and whether the county's limited road-and-bridge budget could or should absorb consultant or upgrade costs. Commissioners repeatedly said they would not support shifting long-term costs to the county; the motion that passed explicitly directs that consultant costs be borne by the requester and that the final agreement can be amended to require bonds or minimum account balances to prevent county exposure.

Public comment: More than a dozen residents from Ponder Point, Bottle Bay and other neighborhoods urged the board to proceed. Many speakers described noise, sleep disruption and quality-of-life impacts that led them to organize and raise funds for the Kootenai Bay quiet zone; several asked that existing quiet zones be grandfathered. Some residents urged the county to press the railroad to help. Others warned that community fundraising should be realistic about ongoing maintenance costs and liability.

Legal and technical context: Mulder explained that the Federal Railroad Administration sets the quiet-zone rules and that the FRA determines eligibility after a local jurisdiction completes the required safety upgrades and paperwork. The railroad may comment but does not have the final authority to block a quiet zone; local roadway easements and railroad right-of-way language can affect permitting, flagger requirements and liability.

Next steps: Road & Bridge will solicit and recommend a consultant engineer to serve as the county's proponent, and staff will return with a professional-services agreement, scope and fee. The board's approval was to a foundational framework rather than to a contract or to county-funded upgrades; commissioners said they expect legal and risk review and that final terms (bonds, minimum balances, grandfathering questions) be addressed before any county financial exposure.

Quotes (verbatim): "Railroad crossing quiet zones are areas where trains no longer blow their horns at every crossing, enabling quality of life improvements for nearby residents and reducing noise pollution," Matt Mulder, Road & Bridge staff engineer, said in presenting the proposal. "If at any point in the future, the community fails to fund the ongoing expenses for maintenance ... the final portion of the retainer funds would be used to cancel the quiet zone and return it to a normal train horn crossing," Mulder added.

Ending: The vote allows communities that want quiet zones to proceed to feasibility studies and engineering work without creating a new recurring line item in the county's road-and-bridge budget. Road & Bridge will return with recommended consultant agreements and proposed protective terms for the county before any work proceeds.