Neighborhood unites to block subdivision

Residents of a Polson neighborhood banded together last week to oppose the development of a subdivision in the area known as Gray’s Acres.

A strong public showing at the Jan. 4 city commission meeting prompted officials to unanimously vote against the development of a vacant lot at the corner of 13th Avenue East and 11th Street East.

The major sticking point was the landowner’s reported intent to build several fourplexes in a neighborhood that residents argue already suffers from narrow roads and traffic congestion.

Project requirements included widening the roads between five and six feet to meet the city standards, but just how the work would be completed and who would pay for it remained unclear.

“It’s physically impossible,” said neighborhood resident Ben Anciaux, who lives adjacent to the proposed development. “Unless you take out my bathroom I guess.”

Marc Carstens, a surveyor contracted for the project, told city commissioners the developers would support establishing a special improvement district, or SID, to split the cost for the road improvements.

This brought up additional complications, however.

While the land, owned by Gehrand and Carol Bechard, is within city limits, the surrounding roads and properties are part of Lake County.

Anciaux and other county residents at the meeting expressed reservations about being included in a city SID, which distributes the cost of infrastructure improvements between affected properties.

“How can you force it down our throats because a developer wants to make more money?” he said.

Neighborhood resident Bryan Harrison also raised concern that the project would open the door to further development.

“You have to remember this is a minor subdivision,” he said. “But it’s stage one of a major subdivision.”

Harrison and other homeowners said such expansion would lower property values and change the character of the neighborhood.

With the land in question currently zoned for multi-family housing, Carstens questioned how the city could deny the project, especially considering the large number of similar developments that have been approved in recent years.

“That’s what I’m having trouble with,” Carstens said.

When it came to vote, however, the overwhelming opposition prevailed.

“It’s tough because the property owner has some right to develop,” Commissioner Todd Coutts said. “But we have to balance their rights with everybody else.”

Commissioner Jill Southerland said she would rather the land be used in a different way.

“I would feel more comfortable if the developer would look at single family homes in those area,” she said. “That would fit more in the neighborhood it seems.”

This resonated with residents, who shuffled out of city hall debating their next battle: changing the zoning to single family.