Commissioners vote 2-1 in favor of moratorium

 On a 2-1 vote Tuesday, May 27, Washington County’s Commissioners declared an emergency moratorium on the issuance of building permits for properties that constitute a fifth-split of an original parcel  on A1-zoned land without first completing the county’s longstanding requirement of a rezone to A2 followed by a subdivision process.

 Upon its passage, the moratorium went into effect immediately, with Commissioners Jim Harberd and Nate Marvin ready to sign the effective ordinance on Monday, June 2. Commissioner Gordon Wilkerson was absent for this week’s session.

 After an executive session with Washington County Prosecuting Attorney True Pearc this week, Marvin moved and Harberd added a second, to have Pearce clarify in the moratorium its 182-day length, as well as the exemption of subdivisions on A2 zoned properties. They will sign the amended version on Monday, June 9.

 Discussion on the moratorium’s consideration on May 27 had carried over from a week earlier, proposed by a group of Washington County citizens who have noticed the commissioners have spent an inordinate amount of time in executive sessions since the first of the year. 

 Returning to continue the conversation with the board were Ron Jaeger, Royce Schwenkfelder, and Frank Schwartz, all of Cambridge, as well as Jase Roberts and Tristan Winegar, both from Weiser. Concerns expressed from the group included: the county leaving itself open to litigation with new and inconsistent interpretation of its codes; loss of A1 agricultural ground to development and the impacts of such losses on Washington County’s agricultural economy; as well as suggesting growth be intentional, strategic, balanced, and directed to areas near goods and services.

 The governing board’s members have verified in open session that a majority of the time behind closed doors this year has been in talks with the county’s prosecuting attorney over settlements, threats of litigation, and a $20 million lawsuit against the county connected to a previous board’s 2021 land use decision. 

 In that case, an outside attorney’s interpretation of a section of the county’s code that any 20-acre lots or larger are entitled to one building permit steered the commissioners to deviate from the county’s standard rezone and subdivision. A second, contrary opinion from the same law firm shortly after led the commissioners to call the decision a “mistake,” and from there, revert to the zoning ordinance’s fifth-split procedure.

 Harberd made his support for a moratorium clear the week before, stating he wants time for  the board to clear up the sections of the county’s code that led to the “mistake.” At the same time he submitted a copy of a moratorium from Bonner County that had gone into effect the same day, and dealing nearly identically with the issues the board is facing here. Marvin wasn’t ready to get onboard with the idea, but had asked for a week to study Bonner County’s ordinance.

 Last week, Marvin said he still wasn’t convinced the county was facing any imminent peril, but as the discussion moved on for more than an hour, circumstances brought up relating to and since the 2021 decision on Gentry Lane may have swayed him.

 “Imminent peril isn’t just health and safety, but also general welfare,” Jaeger submitted. “This lawsuit you’re talking about, if you end up having to pay $20 million that is something that every one of us will end up paying and it is directly or indirectly the result of (continuing) doing the specific thing they did before. Exactly the same, allowing 20-acre splits just to go. 

 “By doing that in the deal with Mr. Lancaster (2021) is why you’re under this lawsuit right now,” he added. “To think changing it again isn’t going to end up with some of those, that is definitely an imminent peril to people of this county.”

 Jaeger added health and safety to his point.

 “As far as the public health thing, we’ve had issues specifically with Gentry Lane,” he said. “Ambulances not being able to get up there when needed. If we continue to split stuff up and we don’t have input and roads in place so that ambulances and (emergency responders) can get in you are endangering the health of the public.”

 Having declared his opposition to the moratorium, District 3 Commissioner Gordon Wilkerson pointed out that Gentry Lane is a private road, not under the county’s jurisdiction. 

 “Agreed,” Jaeger said. “If we hadn’t had the interpretation that started this, there would be a county road in there and they all could use it. My point is when they made the decision to do this it started all of this headache. The whole deal (now) is if we continue to develop without direction there will be more and more of those things.” 

 On the county’s back burner are code revisions requested by the previous board and resulting from a couple of years work in the nine-member Planning and Zoning Commission. Those revisions had gone through a number of public hearings before being forwarded to the county commissioners last summer.

 “We put it on hold because we knew an election was coming up and we didn’t take action on it,” Marvin said during the discussion. 

 Marvin said he had read through some of the revisions over the weekend, and believed implementing them could happen fairly quickly.

 Still supporting the moratorium, Harberd said, “Lawsuits seem to be the main agenda nowadays for us. There is a great potential that more could come from the other way. I don’t think we can live our lives under the constant threat of lawsuits. If we put this (moratorium) in force, stop the madness, get things straightened out, bring up the recommendations from P&Z, and I’ve never seen those, you’re thinking 60-90 days? But in that time a lot of things can transpire.

 “I can’t think of a better way,” Harberd said. “It doesn’t apply to all building permits in the county, but there’s more and more each discussion we have. It’s not going to take that long.”

 Harberd offered the motion to approve the temporary moratorium, with Marvin providing a second, and both voting in favor. Wilkerson went on record with a no vote.