Moyie Springs working on zone changes

MOYIE SPRINGS — The city council of Moyie Springs is proposing zone changes for a number of properties in order to remove the unrestricted zone use and to provide more legal definitions of zoning.

No decisions were made at the proposed zone changes at the Feb. 28 public hearing. Another hearing is scheduled for March 15 at 6 p.m. to consider any and all comments on upcoming city codes. Due to print deadline the meeting will be covered in the March 23 edition of the Herald.

At the Feb. 28 meeting, the council said they will continue to work with city residences to improve zoning and will be looking into city ordinances regarding agricultural animals.

Mayor Steve Economu said he believes Moyie Springs is one of, if not the last city in Idaho that has an unrestricted zone. This zone use allows property owners to place and do whatever they want on the property, where that is a business, store, housing or more. The state of Idaho doesn’t recognize unrestricted zoning.

The proposed zone changes are not set in stone, rather the council has begun working on a proposal and was seeking resident input at the Feb. 28 hearing. Council members said this zone change proposal was partially caused by grant requirements for other city projects, such as sewer improvements and to better have legal definitions of zoning.

City Attorney Jeremy Featherson said the unrestricted zone creates problems amongst property owners as it can allow another property owner to go against the interest of other property owners.

He said by not having zoning definitions, the city could run into issues in the future. The goal is to tighten up zoning definitions.

“The zoning changes are not going to change the current use at the property,” Featherson said.

He said property uses would be grandfathered, meaning current use would be lawful after the zone change for the current property owner.

For example, current unrestricted zoning allows any use. This allows a property owner to open a mechanical shop or even a junkyard in an area surrounded by housing. Although the nearby housing may be single family homes, at present the zoning is unrestricted and not suburban. Allowing both uses of housing, industrial and commercial all next to each other.

“We’ve been told to do it or we’ll do it for you,” a council member said. “Would rather we as a community decide our zoning instead of the county, state or federal government.”

Many city residents at the public hearing were concerned with being rezoned as suburban, fearing they could face heavier regulations, such as limitations on how many animals they can have on their property.

Many were concerned that the zone change would affect their property values, especially those with small farms.

Property owners opposed zoning South Division as Industrial for safety reasons and because many people have to drive by that area to access their property. They also didn’t want industrial usage that close to their own property.

Economu said input like this is why the public hearing is taking place, to get input from city residents in order to figure out what zoning is wanted.

The meeting was the first of several public hearings. Councilmembers said at a later time city residents can request a zone change for their property.