An appeal of plans to carve 69 lots out of 161 acres about three miles south of Donnelly will go before the Valley County Commissioners on Monday.
Gold Fork River Ranch, the subdivision created by the plans, was approved by the Valley County Planning and Zoning Commission on Dec. 12, but that decision is being challenged through an appeal filed by Alan Kindsvater and several other neighbors to the proposal.
The appeal, which will be heard at 3 p.m. in the Valley County Courthouse in Cascade, is centered on what several neighboring property owners say is the subdivision’s incompatibility with surrounding agricultural uses.
Increased costs for farmers
The project “could lead to increased costs for farmers due to new fencing requirements, more complex irrigation management due to altered water flows, and the potential need for additional wildlife management strategies,” the appeal said.
Gold Fork River Ranch’s 69 lots would be served by individual water wells and septic systems. That could lower water tables in the area and affect irrigation of nearby farmland, according to the appeal.
It could also risk contaminating farms that qualify for organic status under the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.
“These changes will introduce contaminants that will likely jeopardize our ability to maintain organic certification for these crops, thereby affecting our livelihood and the economic viability of our farms,” the appeal said.
Several other concerns are also cited in the appeal, including potential safety hazards from mingling residences with farming operations, destruction of elk habitat, and incompatibility with the Valley County Comprehensive Plan.
Besides Kindsvater, 18 other people, including many neighbors, are named as appellants.
Applicant responds
A response to the appeal submitted on Monday by attorney Matthew Parks of Clark Wardle, a Boise law firm, said the P&Z’s Dec. 12 decision “already addressed each of the issues identified in the appeal.”
“The appeal merely makes conclusory statements and provides no basis to find that the commission erred in its decision,” Parks wrote in the response. “Appellants merely ask the board to second-guess the commission.”
The application was submitted by Donnelly developer Craig Groves on behalf of Peter Dinsdale of Independence, Oregon, who owns the two parcels on which Gold Fork River Ranch is proposed.
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The subdivision would be built out in two phases that are expected to be complete by 2029, according to the application. Lot sizes would range from about 1.4 acres to 4.1 acres.
Koskella Road and Davis Creek Lane would provide access to Idaho 55 from the subdivision. Groves would be responsible for funding improvements to those roadways as deemed necessary by Valley County Engineer Dan Coonce.
Instead of traditional zoning, Valley County has a multiple-use concept that involves evaluating proposals on a case-by-case basis for compatibility.
Gold Fork River Ranch received a +12 on Valley County’s compatibility evaluation, for which the highest possible score is +40 and the lowest possible score is -40.
The evaluations weigh nine different criteria, including adjacent land uses, traffic, utility availability, and emergency response capability.
In 2007, a smaller 48-lot subdivision, also called Gold Fork River Ranch, was approved on the same property. Some initial site work was started, but not finished before the approval expired in 2022.
