2 Police Officers Assigned To High Schools Coeur D’Alene Council Also Approves Two Parks Near Canfield Middle School

Two uniformed city police officers will be assigned to the high schools for the first time ever, the City Council decided Tuesday evening.

The council decision was unanimous, despite earlier opposition from Councilwoman Dixie Reid.

City taxpayers will pay for one officer; school district taxpayers will pay for the other.

In addition to investigating crimes, the officers will provide police presence at sporting events and perform other duties.

The council also overruled the Planning Commission and voted unanimously to allow two parks near Canfield Middle School.

A six-acre park will include basketball courts, tennis courts, a picnic shelter and horseshoe pits. A 16-acre park will provide four or five full-sized soccer fields and two Little League softball fields.

The Planning Commission favored the concept of the parks but was worried about the cost of bringing water and sewer lines to the larger park and improving adjacent streets and storm water facilities, associate planner Jean DeBarbieris said.

Doug Eastwood, city parks director, said the developer of an adjacent housing development eventually will make all the necessary improvements. In addition, area clubs are willing to help pay for some of the play fields.

The Coeur d’Alene Soccer Club wants to spend some of the money it has raised to develop fields at the proposed Canfield Park, said Patricia Kovach, secretary of the club.

Councilman Ron Edinger asked if the club would be willing to spend money on Stokes Field. That city field is out of compliance with city laws because it doesn’t have sufficient parking and is located in a light industrial zone, which doesn’t allow play fields.

Kovach said the club has put money into Stokes Field and wouldn’t reject the idea, but it prefers to put its dollars into larger fields elsewhere. Those at Stokes are designed for elementary schoolchildren.

After lengthy deliberation, the council approved both parks on the condition that city water and sewer lines are brought to the site within three years. Portable restrooms are acceptable in the interim.

In other business, the council:

Approved a 1995-96 budget of $33.6 million. This budget reduces city reliance on property taxes by $58,000.

Agreed to award Diamond Parking a year-round contract to manage the city’s downtown parking lot.

Updated the city’s flood-hazard regulations to bring them in line with Federal Emergency Management Agency rules.

, DataTimes