Coeur Terre Annexation Approved 4-2

The Coeur d’Alene Press reports that the City Council gave Coeur Terre the green light on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, near the end of a public hearing that lasted about four hours (Coeur Terre is a go, Coeur d’Alene Press, March 22, 2023).

• The vote: Woody McEvers, Amy Evans, Kiki Miller and Dan English voted to annex about 440 acres from county agriculture suburban to city residential and commercial zoning, and to approve the annexation and development agreement. Dan Gookin and Christie Wood voted no; Gookin’s earlier motion to deny without prejudice, seconded by Wood, failed 2-4.
• The project: about 2,800 housing units, businesses, shops and restaurants, 18 acres of parks, a greenbelt, 4 miles of trails and land for two public schools, north of I-90, south of the future West Hanley Avenue extension and east of Huetter Road. Buildout is expected over 20 to 30 years.
• The neighbors: about 100 people filled the Library Community Room. Many Indian Meadows residents cited density and traffic through their streets, including Appaloosa and Nez Perce roads as connectors to Atlas Road.
• The dissent: Gookin said Huetter and Atlas roads were inadequate for the added traffic and that the density should be reduced: “What you’re talking about here is another city.” Wood asked for time to resolve the Indian Meadows connections: “What I can’t get past is the impact on the existing neighborhood.”

The group had opposed the annexation from the start, at the May 2022 open house and in its October 2022 letter to the planning commission, on the same traffic grounds the Council debated.