Kootenai County staff briefed the Community Development board on a coordinated Area of Impact (AOI) mapping effort and legal ambiguities in a new state statute that could affect boundaries and notice procedures.

Director David Callahan told the board staff had opted to advertise the current submittal as a map-only AOI action so it would be subject to the state’s 15-day notice requirement rather than the county land-use code’s 28-day notice. "We sent out, as the state law requires, the notice to all of the property owners in the unincorporated county, outside of the city limits, but within the mapped areas of the AOIs," Callahan said, estimating roughly 4,500 notices were mailed. He said staff had logged about 50 email responses so far and expected another 150 or so, or about 4% of the mail-out, generating calls and follow-up.

Callahan and GIS Manager Dave Christiansen described technical work reconciling city-provided shapefiles (Hayden, Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, Rathdrum) and producing consolidated exterior AOI boundaries; Christiansen said staff published a review website for the cities and resolved minor parcel and reprojection discrepancies.

City attorneys urged caution and sought inclusion. Field Harrington, city attorney for Post Falls, said his reading of the statute (referred to in the meeting as "67 65 26 areas of impact code") is that it focuses on the overlay map, and he supported treating the current submittal as map-focused. By contrast, Kinzo Mejara, city attorney for Hauser, said Hauser had worked with the county and asked to be included in the upcoming hearing to avoid disestablishment of its boundary on Dec. 31; Mejara said Hauser had submitted a map and favored using the statute’s meet-and-confer process to salvage boundaries rather than restarting the process.

Board members and staff debated whether Hauser’s map met state requirements and whether county counsel could resolve notice issues before the Dec. 18 hearing. One commissioner said they would not approve any map that extended beyond two miles from current city limits and pressed whether services could be provided within five years and how revenue sharing would be affected. Callahan said remaining text amendments for some cities would follow the full land-use process, which requires a 28-day notice and Planning Commission review, and that staff will continue to coordinate with cities and county counsel.

No formal board action on AOI boundaries occurred at the meeting; staff will refine maps, seek counsel input, and provide materials from Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene for the Dec. 18 hearing.