Examiner OKs Kinkade project
Replicas of Thomas Kinkade’s sketched English cottages are closer to becoming reality in Kootenai County after a hearing examiner recommended approval Thursday of The Gates of Coeur d’Alene.
The seven-home project would be the second housing development for Kinkade, a best-selling California artist known for soft-focused landscapes.
HST Group consists of local architect Rann Haight, builder Steve Torres and finance director Roger Stewart. The partners signed a licensing agreement to build a Kinkade-themed development on nearly 24 acres overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene.
County Hearing Examiner Gary Young recommended approval of the project, noting that the developers should perhaps form a local improvement district to pay for improvements to Timothy Lane and the intersecting roadways. He also noted that the applicant should give more specifics on protecting wildlife corridors.
The county commission will have final say.
The county Planning Department staff is concerned because the project is on a steep hillside and because the earthmoving work required could pose aesthetic and slope stability problems. The county also questions whether proposed stormwater controls would work on the steep slope.
– Erica Curless
inland northwest
Inmates moved to Ferry County
Twenty-two inmates from Kootenai County were shipped to Ferry County, Wash., in the wee hours Thursday to relieve overcrowding.
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release that the inmate transport was “the first of many to come.”
Kootenai County deputies drove vans of male and female inmates to the Ferry County Jail. Even with the transport, the population at the Kootenai County Jail still exceeds capacity, the department’s press release said.
Inmates from Kootenai County are also being housed in Latah County and at other jails at a cost to the county of about $50 a day for each inmate. The Ferry County Jail is about 180 miles from Coeur d’Alene.
– Taryn Brodwater
hayden
Register today, get free book
Children who register today for the Hayden Library’s summer reading program will receive a free book.
Adopted by state library systems across the nation, this year’s theme is the pet-oriented “Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales.”
The program is open to anyone under 18. It’s free of charge and doesn’t involve classes – it’s just a way to encourage reading during the summer, youth services librarian Karen Yother said.
Program activities planned for the summer include reptile day and llama day, and prizes will be given to program participants throughout the summer.
Today isn’t the only day youngsters can snag a free read. Program participants will receive a free book for every five visits to the library this summer. Going in today to register counts as a visit, Yother said.
The library is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon until 5 p.m.
– Meghann M. Cuniff