Complaint alleges auto dealer creates ‘traffic hazards’

BONNERS FERRY — A local man has filed a complaint against a local business operation claiming its operations violate city and state code, while also being a “traffic hazard.”

Cabinet Motors, 6831 Main St., faced scrutiny at the Feb. 6 Bonners Ferry council meeting during public comment. 

Bonners Ferry resident Gerald “Jerry” Higgs has filed an official complaint against Cabinet Motors with the city of Bonners Ferry. Higgs is requesting a formal review of activities at the property and to be notified of all resulting enforcement actions following discovery. 

Levi Grayling Falck, owner of Cabinet Motors, operating on U.S. 95 and El Paso Street, is a licensed auto deal in Idaho.

Falck was at the Feb. 6 meeting and responded to Higgs' claims.

Falck said he wanted to make himself available since he had been made aware that his business would be a topic of discussion by the public. 

“I want the city council to know I have applied for the proper license to be there and it was approved in 2020. We do sell over 100 cars a year there,” he said. 

He said this was the first time he’d heard of the issue and requested that if he is not in compliance he could be informed by the city in writing, so he could see the issue and not be blindsided. 

“I guess there have been complaints that have not come to me yet,” he said. 

Falck said he had been contacted by the BFPD around 4:30 p.m. before the meeting about the complaints. 

Higgs spoke of an incident Feb. 2 when deer were hit outside of the property. 

Higgs was waiting at the stop sign on El Paso Street on the corner of U.S. 95, also known as Main Street. During an uninterrupted line of traffic, three deer ran out between the parked vehicles at Cabinet Motors and into the roadway. 

“It was a fraction of a second,” Higgs said and then the deer almost went through a windshield, destroying the front of a van. 

“I’m sitting at the stop sign and this deer is flaying on the sidewalk,” Higgs said. “I was thinking, ‘That deer is going to jump right back into traffic.’”

Higgs backed up his truck, got out, and went to the deer. He tried to sign traffic to stop, but the man said drivers ignored him. Higgs said he and a Cabinet Motor employee finally moved the deer behind one of the parked cars. 

By the time Bonners Ferry PD arrived, the stunned deer recovered enough to get up and run up the hill. A second deer had landed under a vehicle and had thrashed its way out, Higgs said. The third deer was already gone. 

Higgs said once he started talking about the incident, other city residents also noted that it was hard to see due to the amount of vehicles at the site.  

He said the constant coming and going of vehicles and parked cars affects the sight distance triangle at the intersection. Legally, Higgs told the council his understanding is that all that can be in that triangle is vegetation or a building. However, he said many of the parked cars end up in the city right of way and snow storage is also moved onto the the sidewalk, which serves as the right of way.

The city’s code defines an automotive dealer as having new or used vehicles in operating condition displayed in the open for sale, trade, rental and repair.

Higgs claims that not all of the vehicles at Cabinet Motors are operational, therefore violating city code and zoning and making the spot a junkyard, rather than an auto dealer. 

Automotive wrecking yards are not allowed in city limits. 

Higgs argues other code and ordinance issues such as, snow being pushed off the property into the right of way, obstacles blocking visibility through the sight-distance-triangle of the intersection, inadequate parking/access for customers and delivery, continual encroachment of inventory into the right of way, the prohibited burning of refuse/garbage in a burn barrel by a commercial business, the absence of a sight-blocking fence, and potential of being deemed a “nuisance” due to multiple alleged violations. 

Idaho Code 49-221 states it is the responsibility of the real property owner to remove sight obstructions of any nature when they constitute a potential traffic hazard. 

“Sight obstructions shall not extend more than three feet or less than 10 feet, in height above the existing centerline highway elevation with the vision triangle of the vehicle operations,” according to the code. “Boundaries of the vision triangle are defined by measuring from the intersection of the wedges of two adjacent highways forty feet along each highway and connecting the two points with a straight line. 

Per code, when the department of any local authority determines that a traffic hazard exists, it may notify the owner and order that the hazard be removed within an appropriate time as determined by the local authority. If the owner fails to remove the traffic hazard within the appropriate specified time shall constitute a misdemeanor and every day the owner shall fail to remove the obstruction may be considered a separate and distinct offense.