‘Priest Lake is not going to become Los Angeles’

Public hearing for subdivision coming up

PRIEST LAKE — A longtime Priest Lake development proposal is up for a public hearing with the Bonner County Commissioners at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 18.

The proposed Yoman Bluffs subdivision on land owned by Cory Yost and John Mandere would sit on approximately 38 acres, consisting of 23 single-family dwelling residential lots, ranging in size from 1 to 2 acres, and three tracts. The proposed subdivision is located off Sherwood Beach Drive in Coolin and zoned recreational.

Non-profit Selkirk Conservation Alliance, based in Priest River, is among those expressing concerns over the potential project damaging water quality, encroaching on wildlife habitat and burdening existing Bonner County infrastructure and resources.

“SCA sees this proposed subdivision as a very big deal for future land use and land use decisions around Priest (Lake),” SCA Executive Director Amy Anderson said in an email.

In a letter to Bonner County Commissioners and Planning Commissioners, SCA wrote that 23 individual septic systems “will exceed the capacity of Coolin’s already over-burdened infrastructure, including roads, sewer, drinking water, lake access, street parking, and emergency and fire services. Inadequacy of roads, water and sewage services, emergency and fire protection services are concerns specifically addressed in the County’s Comprehensive Plan.”

Those issues have been addressed, according to Yost.

Planning documents show one of the three tracts will be used as a sewer easement, while the other two will be for common open space. All lots would have individual on-site septic tanks and drain fields.

The project will include installing a sewer main adjacent to lots for future use. The main would be connected to Coolin Sewer District once the utility is no longer in moratorium, meaning the district has temporarily stopped issuing and approving new sewer connections. Until the moratorium is lifted, future dwellings would have to install individual on-site sewer systems approved by Panhandle Health District.

“Priest Lake is not going to become Los Angeles,” Yost said regarding people’s concerns over the development. “We’ve been working on this for six years and had to start from scratch several times due to (Bonner County) Planning Commission turnover, and we’ve done our due diligence to make sure this coincides with the county’s Comprehensive Plan and the environment of Priest Lake.”

In the project preliminary plat application submitted to the Bonner County Planning Department in June 2025, none of the project would be in a flood plain or wetlands area, with the entire development located in a maintained, forested area. The application also states that the proposed project is not located within a critical wildlife area, as identified by the Bonner County Comprehensive Plan map.

“The project is consistent with land use objectives by complying with allowable densities and comprehensive planning,” the application reads.

Yost said the development site has undergone a traffic study required by Bonner County Road and Bridge and conducted by Ben Goodmansen, a traffic engineer with Whipple Engineering of Spokane. A soil study was also required by Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and it was done by Kevin Freeman, a geologist for Inland Earth Sciences, also of Spokane. Both studies were done in the past month, according to Yost.

He added that the study done by Goodmansen found that the traffic flow would not be an impediment to the area due to the development and would not encumber firefighting access in case of an emergency, Yost said. The proposal would extend pre-existing Scranton Street onto the development’s property, providing a bigger area for turnaround and allow residents to access the north part of Sherwood Beach Road.

Regarding the soil study by Freeman, Yost said the study found that the proposed on-site wastewater system would not negatively impact surface water or groundwater quality.

The application also states that the subdivision’s homeowner’s association would be responsible for road maintenance on the property. The developers would be responsible for constructing a 20feet wide gravel road within a 50feet private easement to Bonner County standards, Yost said. The project’s proposed water system would be individual wells. The expected average daily demand would be 450 gallons per day, per dwelling, totaling around 10,350 gallons per day.

“Even if the commissioners draft in a condition that the property owner must hook up to sewer once it is available, there exists the real possibility that the district will not expand or if they do it will be decades from now,” Anderson wrote in the SCA letter. “And there is absolutely no way for the county to enforce this condition. Once those homes are built and hooked up to septic, that is the way they will stay.”

The project was approved by the Bonner County Planning Commission at their December 2025 meeting. The public hearing on June 18 is a continuation of the March 17 Bonner County Planning Commission meeting that was canceled.

According to the Guide to North Idaho, a website that connects tourists and transplants North Idaho events and activities, Priest Lake is home to 500 residents, except in the summer when the population increases to nearly 2,500.

To view all the application documentation for Yoman Bluffs, go to bonnercountyid.gov/S0003-25.

Editor’s note: In this week’s story ‘Priest Lake is not going to become Los Angeles’ it was not clarified that the Thursday, June 18 Bonner County public hearing regarding the proposed Yeoman Bluffs Subdivision is to reduce the number of lots from 23 to 12. Twenty-three lots were proposed in the original application. At a previous meeting, Bonner County commissioners moved to unanimously deny the requested PUD for the subdivision while continuing the development, citing compliance concerns with Bonner County Revised Code. 

Written comments must be submitted to the Bonner County Planning Department record no later than June 16 at 5 p.m. Written statements not exceeding one standard letter-sized, single-spaced page may be submitted at the public hearing. Statements can be sent to the Bonner County Planning Department at 1500 Hwy. 2, Suite 208, Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864, faxed to 866-537-4935 or emailed to [email protected].

SOPHIA MATTICE-ALDOUS IS A MURROW NEWS FELLOW WORKING DIRECTLY WITH NEWSROOMS AT THE NEWPORT MINER AND RANGE MEDIA THROUGH A PROGRAM ADMINISTERED BY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY. HER REPORTING IS AVAILABLE FOR USE VIA CREATIVE COMMONS WITH CREDIT.