Cougar Bay Gets More Time

Cougar Bay developers can delay starting their housing development until lawsuits over the controversial project are settled.

Kootenai County commissioners signed an order this week granting the extension.

That order says McCormack Properties has two years after all litigation is finished to complete the first phase of the project.

McCormack will have four years after the lawsuits are settled to finish the second phase of the 92-home subdivision and will have six years to complete the third and final phase.

McCormack applied for an indefinite stay, arguing that two lawsuits make it impossible to get financing for the project, located south of the city near Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The Rural Kootenai Organization has filed two suits against Kootenai County commissioners over the Cougar Bay development.

One awaits a decision by the Idaho Supreme Court. The other awaits a decision by a Kootenai County District Court judge.

County planning staff members were uncomfortable with an indefinite stay.

Specific deadlines protect the county from projects taking too long to complete and from “changing times, changing ordinances, new land uses and changing philosophies” making the project unacceptable, a planning staff report said.

, DataTimes