Rathdrum plans hearing on housing development

Rathdrum residents will get their first chance Wednesday to comment on a housing development that would include a 20-acre manmade lake.

The Rathdrum Planning and Zoning Commission will have a public hearing on JCAV LLC’s proposal for 210 homes and about 50 condos just inside the city limits. Radiant Lake at Westwood Estates would be east of U.S. Highway 41 off Nagel Lane and is the first proposal of this sort in this region that any county or state official could recall.

Some developers think this could become a creative way to make waterfront property more affordable for the average Kootenai County resident.

Radiant Lake lots would start at $45,000 and go up to about $100,000. The lake, a narrow, nearly circular configuration, would be surrounded by homes, and more houses would sit on a peninsula that would jut into the center of the water.

At 8 feet deep and about a mile long, JCAV spokesman Mike McPhee said, it’s likely only one boat at time would be allowed. A homeowners association would control the use and upkeep of the lake.

The commission also will have a public hearing on a neighboring proposal for 197 homes in the second phase of Skyline Meadows. Radiant Lake is dependent on the development of the Skyline Meadows property to the east because that’s how the city would extend infrastructure such as roads and water and sewer lines, Rathdrum Planner Robert Brock said.

The 7 p.m. meeting will be at the Rathdrum City Hall. For more information, call 687-2700.