Planners want height rules
Coeur d’Alene should temporarily stop allowing the construction of high-rise downtown buildings until the city develops rules to preserve the natural views, city planners said Tuesday.
The city Planning Commission wants the City Council to put a moratorium on downtown towers until a consultant is hired to study and develop building height restrictions in the central business district, which includes Sherman and Front avenues.
Planning Commission Chairman John Bruning said he’s unsure how receptive the council will be to the recommendation but that it’s a top priority of the planning commission.
In February, the Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association, which represents 300 downtown merchants, wrote a letter to the council asking it to research the creation of new height rules. The association suggested allowing developers to construct tall buildings only if they agree to leave a portion of the lot open to maintain the views in the downtown corridor.
Currently, there are no height restrictions in downtown except on the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene.
“We can’t wait much longer,” Bruning said. “It’s something we’ve discussed for years. Now we need to do something.”
Commissioner Scott Rasor voted against recommending the moratorium, saying the precedent for towers was long ago set by buildings such as the 215-foot Coeur d’Alene Resort.
The proposed moratorium wouldn’t have any effect on the two tower proposals the commission heard later in the evening, for the 18-story Parkside on Front Avenue and a seven-floor condominium on Sherman Avenue.
The commission unanimously approved a special-use permit for the Sherman condominium building between 6th and 7th streets. The permit will allow Patano Architects and contractor Mike Dodge to have five more living spaces than what the current density rules allowed, for a total of 10 condominiums. The developers didn’t need city permission to build seven stories.
Neither does Miller Stauffer Properties need permission to build the 18-story tower next door to its 14-story McEuen Terrace building. The Parkside developer was asking the commission for a special-use permit to increase the density to allow for 53 residential units. The current zoning would allow 30 residential units on the property.
The commission hadn’t made a decision by 9 p.m. on the proposed $50 million building that would include underground parking, and retail and office space, in addition to a public plaza.
Even though height wasn’t the topic of the two public hearings, it kept surfacing.
The majority of those who attended the hearing favored the Parkside project, although a few expressed concerns about height.
“I can see I’m going to be the only disagreeing person in this love fest,” said Tom Anderson before he told the commission how the Parkside tower would shade his Coeur d’Alene Avenue home.
McEuen Terrace resident Rob Rutherford, who lives on the 13th floor and worries about losing his view of City Park, said Parkside should go only 11 stories.
“If you don’t set some policy these buildings are just going to get higher and higher,” he said.
Dick Stauffer of Miller Stauffer said the tower will take up 31 percent of the total site, leaving a view corridor. He said the high density is needed to compensate for the costly aspects that make the project positive for downtown, such as abundant and free underground parking and public space such as the stores and the plaza.
Stauffer added that the building will add about $833,000 in new tax revenue and that high-density urban living is what will keep downtown Coeur d’Alene vibrant.