Admin

As we reported here, the former US Bank parking lot on 3rd and Front Street is one step closer to becoming an 18 story, 199 foot, high-rise building consisting of 60 condos and two commercial spaces. 120 parking stalls spread over five levels, including two underground, will support residents. 

Located at 301 E Front “The Thomas George” building (Note: The development team did not offer a comment on the name of the building or the project) will only occupy what is currently a parking lot. Plans for the former US Bank building have not yet been disclosed.

The Design Review commission evaluated and approved the project in a meeting February 24, 2022. The only special request of the developer, Tom Anderl, was to allow curb cuts which will be located “within inches” of existing curb cuts. A traffic study indicated fewer interruptions to pedestrians would be expected on pedestrian-oriented 3rd street. Shadow studies were also completed and show the building’s shadow will reach three to four streets north during the winter.

Planning commission and urban renewal/ignitecda committee member Brad Jordan voiced support during the public comment period as he described the improvements of downtown CdA over the last forty years and estimated property tax revenue of $750k to $1M. While this is the sixth high-rise to come to CdA the neighboring Coeur d’Alene Resort has previously sought approval for building a tower on top of the “Shops” which are directly west of this proposal. The resort’s development team pulled the proposal after the design review requested enhanced architectural features. Whether the resort will seek development in the future remains to be seen but could impact the value of these condos.

Two commercial suites ~1,500 square feet  on the lower level facing Front street will be available for lease with a preference for restaurant/food and beverage service.

Below are site photos and renderings of the proposal which regardless of any potential public displeasure meets all requirements of city code. Opponents of high density projects should note that the recent passing of the updated comprehensive plan did not impact the viability of this project.

After decades of strategic property acquisition along NW Blvd in hopes of building a hotel, Ron Ayers has listed the nearly four acres of prime real estate for sale. The project was continuously delayed after a request for local tax dollars came up short. An October 2016 ask of $1,255,000 resulted in a commitment of $680,000 from ignite cda through tax-increment financing. The project appeared to have some inertia years later when suspected arson led to demolition of the dilapidated Garden Motel and left 75% of the property empty. However, delays in the project precluded timely use of the tax-increment financing and the 200,000 square foot Springfield Inn and Suites, which was planned to be LEED certified and solar powered, will ultimately not come to the site regardless of the “Coming Soon in 2019” sign which remains on the property. 

The available lots total over 3.92 acres and range from $750k-$1.5M or a combined asking price of $ 4.35 million. One lot houses the Lean Bean coffee shop. The properties could receive an R34 special use permit and yield 136 units.

1820 NW BLVD, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Mahogany Lane: Eleven lots will include accessory dwelling units allowing income generation or in-law/caretaker suites. Previously owned by Spokane developer Lanzce Douglass, the development is being undertaken by local businessman and Bellerive resident Rob Bloem. The seemingly small project is a quite complex as it involves land swaps with the Bellerive Homeowners Association, Ignite CdA, the City of CdA, the Trail foundation. A few dozen conditions were placed on the project by the planning department. It sailed through the planning commission review regardless of some opposition.

Opponents object to the proximity of the homes to the river and the break in continuity of public access to the river. Proponents cheer the realignment of the Centennial Trail at Beebe Blvd and look forward to the mixed-use building adjacent to the trail which may house a café and/or watering hole for weary riders. 

Bloem, who owns Stancraft Boats among other related businesses employing 150+ people, has apparently propped up a new high-end company called Stancraft Construction which will likely build the homes. Perhaps the most visible project of Stancraft Construction is the Nest at Lakeside, covered here. See below for this project’s location, site plans, elevation rendering, and three renderings of the planned mixed-use commercial building.  

Rob Bloem, developer of Mahogany Lane and owner of Stancraft.

The Nest on Lakeside. Five townhomes will cover half of the lot of the former J.C. White house which was recently transported to the base of Tubbs Hill to serve as the new North Idaho Museum. Property owner, Mark Launder, subdivided and sold the northern half of the lots to Allen Measom who is developing the the high end condos. Measom is a former CEO of Raptor Technologies, a software company based in Houston, TX. The builder is listed as Stancraft Construction whose logo is nearly identical to local conglomerate Stancraft Boat, Marine, and Aviation.

The five condos, rendered below, feature 3 beds, 5 baths, 3,500 Square Feet of high-end living commanding a $2,950,000. The southern half of the property remains under the ownership of Mark Launder. Previous statement by Launder indicate a similar project could take place on the Sherman Ave side of the property. This would take the property from <$1Million assessment with the J.C. White house to nearly $30 Million assessment for the tax rolls. Proponents of the project say that urban renewal played a huge part with revitalization of McEuen Park, the library, the Iceplant condos, and The Lake Apartments.

Check out more on the Nest’s promotional website.

The heart of a city is her people. Inside the heart of the people: their faith. Three CdA churches replaced a movie theater, a car dealership, and a hardware store. Their leaders sat down to discuss all things faith and Coeur d’Alene–including getting out the vote. Enjoy this first clip where they weigh in on voting. Paul Van Noy from Candlelight Christian Fellowship, Raydeane and J.O. Owens from Heart of the City Church, and Aaron Richner from the Cause Church weigh in.

A 20 acre lot southwest of Interstate 90 will finally be developed.

Developers who have ties to Monogram Homes and will be allowed to build up to eight units per acre have offered $500 per lot to the CdA school district in an attempt to mitigate the development’s impact on schools. Representatives did not indicate how many lots would be used for duplexes but have the right to solely develop the See map for location.

As the city of Coeur d’Alene wraps up the annual “leaf-fest,” wherein street crews collect around 1,400 tons of leaves, some argue the task is unnecessary and even harmful to the environment. Check out Nathan’s report:

People raking their leaves is in fact not helpful because it is bad for the environment, ends up destroying key parts of ecosystems, and can affect the water supply that we all use daily. In the article, “Good news: You don’t need to rake your leaves; experts explain why” the author states, “Mizejewski explained that leaves and other organic matter sent to landfills can break down and form methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change” (Pitofsky 2). This shows that when people rake their leaves, bag them, and take them to the dump, it causes climate change. While getting rid of the leaves makes your lawn look nice, it ends up releasing methane and causing climate change, which is bad for the environment. Later, when discussing life on the lawn, the author states, “The layer of leaves on your lawn is ‘really important wildlife habitat,’ according to Mizejewski, forming ‘an entire ecosystem in and of itself.’” (Pitofsky 2). This clearly shows that anyone’s lawn is important to all critters and creatures. Why would people rake their leaves when it actually does harm? Raking leaves should be one of the last things people do as they really do it to have a nice looking lawn when it will be covered in snow in a few weeks. The author states “Leaves can also end up in streams and rivers where drains lead. That can affect the water quality and ‘sensitive species adapted to those waterways,’ according to Schlossberg” (Pitofsky 3). When there are huge piles of leaves they can be blown into rivers, streams, and lakes which could potentially harm the wildlife there. Raking your leaves takes more work and if you didn’t do it, it would help the environment, help small animals, and benefit the water supply. 

Pitofsky, Marina. “Good News: You Don’t Need to Rake Your Leaves. Experts Explain Why.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 24 Oct. 2021, 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/15/raking-leaves-fall-dont-do-it-experts-explain-why/6052751001/
However, CdA leaves are shredded and turned into compost.

Due to a 450% increase in CdA SWAT calls since 2014, the city council approved the purchase of a newly rebuilt armored vehicle similar to above for $183,000 discounted from a new model $380,000. 

Year to date, the SWAT team has been called upon 18 times including one officer-involved shooting. Officers currently do not have armored vehicles. Chief White stated it will be used to “[rescue citizens trapped by gunfire, or safely evacuate them without exposing them to gunfire. It can delay officers needing to respond with gunfire.]” Councilmember Amy Evans asked how the police chief will ensure it is only used in protective measures. The Asset forfeiture fund will be cleaned out to fund most of the purchase with the balance coming from funds previously budgeted for a patrol car. The vehicle will get an updated black and white paint job to match the city’s fleet. The police department will still be able to purchase four patrol cars. 

Dr. Carroll was right–at least about one thing. The hospitalization rate for <18-year-old-kids positive for Covid jumped to nearly 2%. Since we questioned the Press’ coverage of Dr. Carroll’s Rotary presentation, an additional 934 juveniles confirmed or suspected positive for SARS-CoV2 resulted in 18 hospitalizations among the same demographic. No reports of deaths or PICU transfers of these SARS-CoV2 patients have emerged. The increase of the average 1.1% hospitalization rate is attributed to the Delta variant.

As hospitalization rates of children increased the only local school with a mask mandate, Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy, dropped the masking requirement October 18, about four weeks after their board member condemned the Press and Dr. Carroll for “[fanning flames of panic].” The charter school reports 20 cases so far this year among its population of 670 individuals. Coeur d’Alene public schools observed a 27% drop in total overall Covid cases over the last four weeks (10/11-11/7, chart 1) despite not requiring masks during the back-to-school Covid surge (chart 2). Masks work (chart 4). So, how do we explain this drop in cases? And, how does a community decide an acceptable risk and mitigation? Is this outcome acceptable? Would masking in schools have prevented eighteen children from hospitalization and hundreds of others from infection? Whether this outcome is satisfactory or not without masks, what about a vaccine mandate?

With the recent approval of Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11 the new school board will undoubtedly be deluged with demands for vaccine requirements from concerned parents. Natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity rates in the community should be considered along with novel therapeutics. Recently two new therapeutics emerged reporting an 89% reduction in hospitalization and death. Considering the community vaccine uptake–or lack thereof–should school boards or municipalities consider a vaccine mandate for kids or avoid a mandate and accept the risks of additional infections and hospitalizations? The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reports nearly 5,000 PHD children <18, less than one in three, have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Unfortunately the dashboard fails to allow further distinction of the data by county. One estimate for Kootenai County based on proportional vaccination uptake is 3,517 (based on Kootenai County comprising 71.3% of the PHD population). At least 3,431 Kootenai County kids have already had covid indicative of 3,517-8,000+ kids with some level of immunity. Judging by the overall vaccine uptake rate in the Panhandle health district a vaccine mandate will not be well received and yield poor compliance.

Kootenai County has posted the unofficial election results to their website which redirects here. 

The Coeur d’Alene races turned out mostly how we predicted (5/7) with the exception of the school board. The largest surprise was the turnout which nearly doubled from 2019 for the city of CdA residents with over 10,000 votes cast. Below we break out school board and CdA city race analysis.

School Board

While our prediction was incorrect our endorsements apparently coincided with the voting populace. These races were very close and failed to resemble a decisive victory, reflecting the division in our community. Winners would be wise to proceed with moderate rather than polarizing actions. 

City Council

Most CdA voters wanted someone other than Amy Evans but failed to coalesce around one of her two opponents. Kiki Miller narrowly beat Elaine Price by 49 votes, less than 0.5%. Woody McEvers enjoyed the largest margin in his likely last term serving by our interpretation of his comments that he was [considering not running again due to his age]. Jim Hammond arguably benefited from having two opponents but won with more than 50%.

We reached out to Elaine Price and Lindsey Swingrover to ascertain their intentions regarding a recount but did not immediately hear back. We will update the story if they respond.