County corrects building permit error
By:
Nancy Grindstaff
A rural Weiser landowner received some satisfaction during the Monday, Jan. 13, Washington County Commissioners meeting. The county board admitted to a mistake when a building right belonging to Elaine Strong’s 1979 original parcel had been awarded to a split on a neighbor’s property.
Commissioner Nate Marvin took the lead in his recorded opening remarks, starting with a correction of the process in the decision made a week earlier.
“Last week, during an executive session we made a decision that should have been made in front of the public,” Marvin said. “To cure that error we’re going to discuss it today in an open meeting and make a decision today. This is to cure the mistake we made with the open meeting law.”
Marvin said Strong had been told by the Planning and Zoning office that she owned one (additional) dwelling right on her property.
“She came in before the commissioners and we determined it was a first come, first serve situation,” Marvin said. “After visiting with legal counsel we feel we need to correct that since Elaine was told by P&Z she had a building right, so that would be my motion, we approve a dwelling right for that parcel.”
Prior to the board’s unanimous approval, a discussion between them revealed a misunderstanding on a title company search played into Strong’s property being determined to not to be entitled to the building right. In the meantime, after the commissioners deemed it to be available on a first come, first served basis, a neighboring parcel owner was issued the permit to build.
Commissioner Gordon Wilkerson said Strong then hired another title search to be completed that proved the dwelling permit was rightfully hers.
County P&Z Administrator Bonnie Brent-Dowell added that Strong’s property had been deeded prior to 1979, and was a separate original parcel from the neighbor’s property that ended up with the building permit on a fifth split.
“The building permit was issued based on the commissioners’ decision to issue it on a first come, first serve basis,” Brent-Dowell said. “Elaine hadn’t (yet) done her deed search that took her 18 acres out of the (pre-1979) original. The title company should have found that.”
Over at least the past couple of years the county commission has been seeking a way to map out what were original parcels as of April 9, 1979, in order to simplify identifying which properties still have available building permits tied to them.
That 1979 date was the official beginning of the county’s zoning ordinance, and contiguous properties owned and deeded were identified as “original parcels” from that point.
With 46 years gone by since, the county’s available long-term memory for who owned what back then has become mired with new and, maybe, surprising population growth. As property changes hands, though, the information is recorded in the Washington County Clerk’s office. More recently, the county has added a feature to the clerk’s office website where recorded documents can be found.
A pilot project approved by the commission this past fall to map an area south of Weiser came to a grinding halt when the person contracted to complete it decided the deed searches were more complicated than he thought it would be.
Start again
In a separate action item on the board’s agenda just prior to the decision in Strong’s favor, the board unanimously approved a contract with Title One to research and identify 1979 original parcels in an area of Washington County, beginning at the Payette County line within the boundaries between the Snake River and Hill Road and towards Weiser. A map may come later if the project works out as hoped for.
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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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