Permit sought for Trestle Creek development

HOPE — The operators of the Idaho Club are seeking a conditional use permit for a 10-lot development on Lake Pend Oreille at Trestle Creek.

Bonner County commissioners are scheduled to conduct a public hearing on the proposal on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. The 1:30 p.m. hearing is scheduled to be held at the Bonner County Administration Building over Zoom video and livestreamed on YouTube.

Developers are seeking a permit for a large-scale, mixed-use planned unit development consisting of five residential lots, one utility lot, one recreational lot, one access lot and one submerged lot. An open space lot of 2.89 acres is also planned.

The project is located north of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' recreational area at Trestle Creek.

Bonner County Planning & Zoning recommended approval of the project during a public hearing on Dec. 17.

The project borders the north branch of Trestle Creek, which is designated as critical habitat for bull trout under the federal Endangered Species Act.

"Trestle Creek supports a very high density of spawning bull trout relative to other bull trout spawning streams in their range across the the northern Rockies," Idaho Fish & Game's regional supervisor, Chip Corsi, said in an agency response letter to the development proposal.

Corsi said Trestle Creek averaged 120 bull trout redds, which are spawning nests, between 2011 and 2020.

Fish & Game warned against allowing variances which could lead to nutrient loading into the lake, the near-shore waters of which are listed as impaired because of nutrients.

"In addition, shoreline developments associated with waterfront real estate development often create habitat for species such as pike, which in turn prey on trout and kokanee migrating to the lake from tributary streams," Corsi said.

Fish & Game noted that developers are seeking 11 deviations from minimum development standards in order to achieve open space retention, critical wildlife habitat and riparian habitat preservation. The department said the most concerning deviation is a 70-percent impervious surface standard near water when 35 percent is normal.

Developers of Idaho Club North are also seeking a zero-foot wetland setback because it possesses an 11-year-old permit allowing for wetland fill.

"It is hard to see where filling a wetland have having a 0-foot setback is congruous with 'critical wildlife habitat and riparian habitat preservation,'" Corsi said in the letter.

Fish & Game is proposing nearly a dozen development recommendations meant to reduce human and wildlife conflicts and retain standing timber, including dead snags.