Bonner County Municipalities (Kootenai: renting, contractors, inspections)

[Sagle Sam 2016]

Warning: This is not a political thread nor do I wish it to become one. The intent is simply to talk about the trend and current state of Bonner County's municipalities.

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OK, so here's what I am curious about to those who have lived in Bonner County for a long time. I recently moved to Bonner from Kootenai so I don't have long term, first hand perspective.

I always thought that Bonner county was pretty much a free for all in terms of doing what you want (legally) on your land with not too much red tape or intrusion from the local municipalities. It sure does seem to have that reputation, at least historically.

Since moving up here though, I have found the exact opposite. In the process of developing my land, adding infrastructure, moving in a manufactured home, and building a pole barn, I feel that I have had endless encounters with and hoops to jump through with the local govt. It seems ludicrous to me that I have had to get a permit and inspection for just about every little damn thing and they seem to be keen to know exactly what I have on my property and where. To me, this is quite annoying and alarming. I know the idea of land ownership is a myth anyway and that we are all just "renting" from the federal government, but do they really have to have their nose into everything I want to do? Friends, neighbors, and even people I've hired says it wasn't anything like this, even 5-10 years ago. One in particular who did a masterful job on our land with site prep, etc has been doing this for 30 years and he seems to be in utter shock with the current state of affairs.

So, has anyone else experienced this? What seems to be the cause (if that is possible to answer without being political), and is there any way to stop it?

I am pretty sure that once we get completely settled, we will be left alone (better be), but at the moment, I am still somewhat in disbelief.

[Cnynrat]

I've been scratching my head about your recent comments about this subject because in fact the recent trend in Bonner County has been to relax land use regulations, not to add to them. Late last year they made several changes that eliminated the need to obtain a Building Location Permit for certain shop buildings and decks by increasing the square footage limits at which a location permit is required for these and some other structure types.

I am about as strong an advocate for small government as you will find, but I'm not sure that eliminating the requirement to have Panhandle Health review a proposed structure location to ensure you aren't planning to build on a septic drain field or a location identified as a planned drain field replacement is a good thing. That doesn't seem like an onerous requirement to me. Similarly, a review to ensure a proposed location meets basic setback requirements doesn't seem to be overboard.

The county has also been moving towards streamlining the process by which landowners can divide their property into multiple lots. There has been some controversy over these changes, and while I think the county is still planning to move ahead with the changes, they have agreed to slow the timeline.

Perhaps in the context of longer term trends land use regulations have increased in Bonner county. I've not been following this over a long term so I don't have that perspective. I will tell you that the current level of land use regulations is still extremely low compared to most other areas of the country.

Dave

[Sagle Sam 2016]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

I've been scratching my head about your recent comments about this subject because in fact the recent trend in Bonner County has been to relax land use regulations, not to add to them. Late last year they made several changes that eliminated the need to obtain a Building Location Permit for certain shop buildings and decks by increasing the square footage limits at which a location permit is required for these and some other structure types.

I am about as strong an advocate for small government as you will find, but I'm not sure that eliminating the requirement to have Panhandle Health review a proposed structure location to ensure you aren't planning to build on a septic drain field or a location identified as a planned drain field replacement is a good thing. That doesn't seem like an onerous requirement to me. Similarly, a review to ensure a proposed location meets basic setback requirements doesn't seem to be overboard.

The county has also been moving towards streamlining the process by which landowners can divide their property into multiple lots. There has been some controversy over these changes, and while I think the county is still planning to move ahead with the changes, they have agreed to slow the timeline.

Perhaps in the context of longer term trends land use regulations have increased in Bonner county. I've not been following this over a long term so I don't have that perspective. I will tell you that the current level of land use regulations is still extremely low compared to most other areas of the country.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I appreciate your perspective and agree that some oversight is necessary, including the example you gave about septic permits, etc.

Here are a couple of examples where local regulations have been increased/modified lately where local contractors who have been doing this in the area for years seem to be scratching their heads:

1. Blue tape for trench line for well. Apparently, they now have to run some blue tape along the well line trench and it has to be inspected before being buried. This is one of a few examples I ran across where the contractors suggested that not only was the new requirement pointless, but also that it held up/complicated the project timeline due to the need to wait for inspection at that particular phase of the project.

2. A separate permit for almost everything. Well driller permit, permit for trenching for the well, permit for tank location, permit for electric, permit for trench for electric, permit for internal pluming, permit for septic, permit/inspection for 6 ft. between septic and internal plumbing, permit for each wood stove, permit for propane, permit for propane line, permit for propane heater, 2 separate build location permits, one for shop and one for house. I am sure I am even missing some but you get the idea. Permits a plenty and not only are the permits far too many in number, but they are also very particular as to their requirement for level of detail. Not only that, but the need to wait for inspections at so many phases for these equates to a huge burden and headache for contractors who try to keep a tight schedule and have numerous projects in process at a given time.

I suppose maybe your perspective is different since I don't think you've built/developed your place from scratch, but mine is very counter to what the county's reputation has been in the past.

Among my theories to why there has been an increase in oversight is the county embracing the advantages of technology and possibly taking them too far (including adopting practices found elsewhere that may be a totally different use case or application), the hunger for revenue (by requiring a larger quantity of permits and charging for each), or even political reasons that I will not discuss.

I am not suggesting I have the answer or that my opinion is fact here and that is one reason I started the thread and solicited perspectives from long time residents of the county. One thing for sure is that I will be glad to be done and settled so I don't have to deal with all of the red tape (and other colored tape) anymore and can hopefully pay my taxes and be left alone.

[Cnynrat]

You're right, we didn't build our place, so we haven't experienced them first hand quite yet. We are planning to build some other buildings, so I have been doing some research into the process and requirements.

If I'm not mistaken, the requirements for electrical and plumbing inspections are driven by the state, not the county, so I'm not sure the blame for those should be assigned to the county.

The county planning department doesn't seem to be driven by generating fees because when they made the changes to the location permit process late last year they noted that it would reduce fees by $27k/year. I think you've needed a separate location permit for each building for a long time, so I don't think that's a recent change.

Dave