RV park decision being appealed

WALLACE — The Shoshone County Planning and Zoning Commission is receiving pushback from a group of local residents concerning a permit that was issued last week.

A conditional use permit (CUP) was approved after a hearing last Wednesday in Wallace.

The hearing came after a site inspection a few months ago that resulted in Shoshone County Planning and Zoning administrator Dan Martinsen finding various unapproved site disturbances and then learning that the property owners were attempting to develop an RV park without the necessary permits.

Upon learning of their need for proper permitting and other requirements, owners Jerry and Erica Kerr worked quickly to secure and meet all of the necessary agency requirements before submitting their proposal to the P&Z Commission for their decision.

The proposed RV park is on property just south of the Snake Pit, near the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Coeur d’Alene River.

At Wednesday evening’s hearing, a group of local residents who oppose the RV park were given the opportunity to ask questions and voice their concerns during the public comment period.

Those concerns really boiled down to the levels of contamination along the riverbanks where children and families tend to recreate when camping along the Coeur d’Alene River.

According to them, the area is one of the most contaminated areas along the river due to a complete lack of remediation.

Dawn Wiksten, one of the residents who attended the meeting to oppose the permit, is very concerned by the perceived lack of concern she is seeing concerning this specific location.

“It’s not about restrictions or restricting growth,” Wiksten said. “We are concerned with the contamination and there has been nothing done to cap or remove the contaminants in this particular area.”

The contamination in question is a result of years of dangerous mining practices polluting the waterways with lead, zinc, cadmium and arsenic particles that led to the entire Silver Valley being a part of the Bunker Hill Superfund Site. Much of the ground in the are has been remediated, but there are still some areas that have not and Wiksten is concerned by this being one of those neglected spots.

Also brought up was the lack of potable water to the area and concerns over flooding.

After hearing the concerns, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the proposal and granted the CUP, citing that while the concerns from the residents were valid, they were civil in nature and that their job as commissioners was to make a decision based on the applicant’s ability to comply with the regulations.

Wiksten, a neighboring property owner, is appealing the commission’s decision, and she spoke about her concerns surrounding how the area is handled as a whole during the summer season, frustrated that decisions like the one made by the P&Z Commission are based solely on the potential of bolstering tax revenues, and not on what is in the best interest of the community and residents.

Wiksten also believes that a solid way to add revenue for the county in lieu of decisions like the one she is combating, would be to add a fee system for people using the North Fork.

“We have to figure out how to manage the camping Olympics that go on here every year,” Wiksten said. “Things have gotten out of hand. We need to start charging and collecting fees to help mitigate the costs of trash and policing along the North Fork.”

Due to the appeal, Shoshone County Planning and Zoning refrained from commenting on the decision.