[7:29] I'm going to watch that.

[7:35] » Nailed it. >> All right, [snorts] are we recording?

[7:38] » We're recording. >> All right, well, good evening, everyone.

[7:41] Let me call tonight's um hearing to order.

[7:45] Uh my name is Carl Grandrath. Um the hearing examiner for tonight's hearing.

[7:49] Looks like we have one item to schedule for tonight.

[7:52] Um so, just a quick uh overview. Um so, as a hearing examiner tonight, the

[7:57] purpose of tonight's hearing is for me to gather testimony and evidence um from

[8:01] staff, the applicant, and members of the public.

[8:04] Uh and to uh create a complete record on which I will have 2 weeks from tonight

[8:09] to submit my recommendation uh back to staff who then will take that

[8:13] recommendation and bring it in front of your county commissioners for the

[8:16] ultimate decision uh on this matter. Uh as far as procedure for tonight, uh

[8:22] what we'll do is we'll start off with a presentation from staff. And we have Mr.

[8:25] Zetter here for the county. Uh we'll give an overview of the project

[8:28] and the staff's analysis and recommendation on it. Um

[8:32] after that, the applicant will have an opportunity to make any presentation

[8:35] they so desire. They have up to 30 minutes

[8:38] uh for that. Um after that, will be our public comment portion of tonight's

[8:42] hearing. I don't have anyone signed up yet. Um so, and there may also be people

[8:46] um who call in on the telephone.

[8:50] Um but uh tonight and during that portion,

[8:52] that is the public comment, will be the only opportunity for me to receive

[8:55] public comment. So, if anybody changes their mind, I'll give a a reminder then

[8:58] if anyone decides they want to give an official comment on the record.

[9:03] Uh after that, there's an opportunity for

[9:05] the applicant to rebut or address or answer questions, anything that's been

[9:08] brought up by the public. Uh and I can and will ask questions uh

[9:12] at any point in time uh to anyone. So, um

[9:16] without further ado, I'd like to open the public hearing for variance 26-0003.

[9:22] Uh I'll sit.

[9:26] Go ahead. >> Good evening, hearing examiner. Blake

[9:29] Zetter for the record, here to present VAR 26-0003.

[9:34] A request for two variances, one to the rear yard and one to the side yard

[9:38] setbacks for an existing deck. Before I dive into the request itself,

[9:43] um I would first like to start off the

[9:45] presentation by saying uh Kootenai County Community Development has

[9:48] received a number of inquiries and phone calls regarding concern around beach

[9:53] access near the subject property. Um I'd like the record to state that um

[9:58] this request and the public hearing tonight are limited to the scope of the

[10:02] deck variance. Um any beach access concerns along the

[10:06] Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive um are not part of this request, nor are

[10:10] they even located on the subject property. Um so it is uh

[10:14] it's assumed that those concerns will not be addressed tonight.

[10:19] Moving on to the uh request at hand, the applicant is requesting approval of a

[10:24] variance for an existing deck that was built um by a prior owner.

[10:28] Um the first variance is a foot 14-ft variance from the 25-ft rear variance

[10:34] setback that will allow the deck to remain about 11-ft from the rear.

[10:37] The second variance is a 7.5-ft variance from the 10-ft side yard setback that

[10:42] would allow it to remain about 2.5-ft from that side yard.

[10:46] The property in question is located uh southeast of Coeur d'Alene Lake of

[10:51] downtown Coeur d'Alene of Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive.

[10:54] You will see here that the zone is restricted residential that has a front

[10:58] yard setback of 25-ft. You will also notice that the um right-of-way along

[11:04] here um takes up a good portion of the

[11:07] property um and creates a uh

[11:11] a significant hardship with regard to development area.

[11:16] As far as site conditions are concerned, these are some photos of the um deck and

[11:21] the surrounding slope. It is a little hard to discern based on the vegetation,

[11:24] but the uh you can tell there's a retaining wall here. It slopes pretty

[11:28] steeply up back into the hillside.

[11:33] It should also be noted there is not a way to access this back portion of the

[11:37] property without going through the house and onto the deck.

[11:43] So, here is the site plan that the applicant has prepared. As you'll

[11:45] notice, the deck here is located in red. The stairs itself are about 11 ft from

[11:52] the rear yard setback and the side of the

[11:55] deck here, oops, is about 2 and 1/2 ft from the

[12:00] eastern side.

[12:03] During the public agency comment period, all agencies approved or had no

[12:07] objection. During the public comment period, staff

[12:11] received zero written comments, although we did receive a number of phone calls

[12:16] with regards to the beach access. It is staff's position that there is an

[12:21] undue hardship that exists because of the shallowness of the site and the

[12:24] slope characteristics. In addition, the applicant did inherit this issue and has

[12:29] now come back trying to correct it. Um As such, staff recommends approval of

[12:35] this variance and I stand for any questions.

[12:37] » Hey, great. Thanks for the presentation and your staff report. Um I guess just

[12:43] maybe half curiosity, how did this come across the county's radar?

[12:46] » Yeah, so this The applicant has actually applied

[12:49] for solar panel permit. And so, in doing

[12:53] research on the property, as we do for all permits, we found that there was an

[12:57] unpermitted structure built from the last permit to this permit. It should be

[13:01] noted that there is a variance that was approved for the existing house

[13:06] back in 2012 and then the subsequent house permit was built in 2013. It is

[13:11] assumed, based on aerial imagery, that the deck was built about 2014, about a

[13:15] year after the house was built.

[13:19] » I think that's all the questions I have for you this time. Thank you.

[13:24] Mr. Paulson, I presume? >> Yes.

[13:26] » Go ahead, sir. >> Thank you, sir. Yes, my name is Dan

[13:29] Paulson and I'm here hoping to request a setback

[13:32] variance for both my for my back deck and its attached stairs.

[13:37] The the deck was built or extended expanded

[13:41] by the the original owner in 2013 2014 right after building the house.

[13:47] The second owner was unaware of the undocumented or unpermitted deck as well

[13:52] as I was unaware of it until applying for the solar permit.

[13:57] Um the pain that I feel is due to

[14:01] the narrowness of the lot. The lot as you could see from Blake's picture that

[14:05] he showed of the lot size that just is the house itself was designed in a very

[14:10] unique shape only because it had to be fit onto that small lot. And so there is

[14:14] absolutely no place um around the house where a a deck could

[14:19] be placed and be within the setback requirements.

[14:23] There just simply isn't an area there. Um

[14:26] so I'm not trying to expand the deck or change the deck in any way. I'm just

[14:30] trying to legalize the deck um that is existing in its current

[14:36] condition. Um

[14:41] both my adjacent neighbors I have a neighbor that owns the land behind the

[14:45] house as well as a neighbor that owns the land to the east of the house.

[14:49] They both have signed a statement in full support of the variance application

[14:53] and I have that with me, sir, if you'd like to view it.

[14:55] » Uh I did see that in the record um when I was reviewing it unless it's different

[15:00] than there's like four signature blocks in

[15:03] the statement. I can see that. >> Um

[15:07] my deck I I believe maybe the house itself is not even visible from

[15:12] the neighbor's house is as I live below them in very steep terrain and so you

[15:16] can see the to the right there on the images the

[15:20] the land spot where the neighbor is now building his house and the other

[15:24] neighbor who has the land behind my house is up above and he he can't see

[15:29] the house at all I don't believe from his vantage point. He surely can't see

[15:32] the deck. From the roadside uh just the very

[15:36] corner of the deck can be seen from the roadside

[15:39] on the on the east side and that's only after looking through the the blanket of

[15:43] trees. So it's very difficult to see. I don't believe there's any

[15:47] impact to the public and definitely not to my neighbors with the visual aspect

[15:50] of the deck. Um

[15:54] As Blake said, all review and agencies have

[15:58] uh not found any problems with the the deck

[16:02] and those agencies are extensive Lakeside Highway, the Idaho

[16:04] Transportation Department, Panhandle Panhandle Health, Avista as well as

[16:08] Kootenai County Fire. Um

[16:13] In summary, I am trying just to bring my existing structure which has been in

[16:18] existence for 13 or 14 13 years into uh becoming a legal structure. And

[16:25] uh I'm not trying to change it in any way

[16:27] or improve it in any way. I just want to make it legal.

[16:31] Thank

[16:37] » All right. So that does move us to our public comment portion of tonight's

[16:40] hearing. Um so I'll check real quick to see if there's anybody who's connected

[16:45] via telephone or online however it's being done today.

[16:50] Um I don't know if Okay. Well, if there's anyone who can

[16:53] hear my voice who's connected versus on the telephone,

[16:56] um you can go ahead and speak up now.

[17:03] Okay. And I'll repeat for anyone else who's here in the audience. Uh

[17:08] uh this is your one and only chance to enter a public comment on the record. Uh

[17:13] so I'm just giving a last chance to do that. Seeing none so eager.

[17:17] Okay. I'm going to move this on from the public comment portion.

[17:23] I guess I'll just ask if there's anything else from staff or the

[17:26] applicant they would like to say during tonight's hearing.

[17:30] » I have nothing further.

[17:33] » Okay, I have no further questions. As I said

[17:38] well maybe I didn't say this part before. I did receive the file from from

[17:41] the county staff and so that's that in tonight's testimony is going to be the

[17:44] bulk of the record tonight. Um

[17:47] but with that I am going to close the record for variance 26-0003

[17:53] and we are adjourned. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[17:57] Thank you. Good job. Nice job.

[18:00] » Nice job.

9/3/26 Community Development: Hearing Examiner

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