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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>It's time for Schroeder to be
institutionalized.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>W.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rforce2003@yahoo.com href="mailto:rforce2003@yahoo.com">Ron Force</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 29, 2010 10:44
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Schroeder Weighs in
on Health Rule</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman,new york,times,serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<DIV>Lake cabin permit flap prompts legislation<BR>Bill would drop limit on
home expansions<BR>Betsy Z. Russell<BR>The Spokesman-Review<BR> <BR>BOISE
– An Idaho lawmaker upset that regulators refuse to bend the rules for a
Worley-area cabin owner with an inadequate septic system is proposing
legislation that threatens to undermine the Panhandle Health District’s
ability to keep sewage out of North Idaho lakes and streams.<BR><BR>“I’m just
getting their attention up there,” said state Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow.
He added that even if SCR 114 were to be approved, the health district could
re-establish its own regulatory authority by writing “another rule
tomorrow.”<BR><BR>The health district disagrees.<BR><BR>“Neither the board nor
I feel that that’s in the best interest of the public in general,” said Dale
Peck, environmental response and technology director for the
district.<BR><BR>The legislation would affect all homes on substandard sewer
systems in the five counties of the Idaho Panhandle. Currently, those homes
have “vested rights” to continue using their old septic systems as long as
they don’t expand their buildings by more than 10 percent. Schroeder’s
legislation would remove the expansion limits.<BR><BR>Schroeder said he
introduced the measure on behalf of a Pullman resident who built a big cabin –
2,749 square feet – on Lake Coeur d’Alene but now can’t get an occupancy
permit to use it.<BR><BR>That’s because when the owner, Carol Chipman, built
the home near Worley, a condition on her building permit required her to tear
down a 1,248-square-foot cabin and a second 893-square-foot cabin on an
adjacent lot. The newer home exceeds the 10 percent limit, but Panhandle
Health decided to allow the swap. Both 1950s-era cabins were on substandard
septic systems, as is the new home.<BR><BR>However, Chipman now is refusing to
tear down the second cabin.<BR><BR>Schroeder said Chipman’s project came at
the same time the 10 percent rule was taking effect, and she was caught in the
changeover. She’d already torn down the larger of the two old cabins before
she and her contractor realized the rules had changed.<BR><BR>“I think that
they should have the flexibility to solve a problem for people that are caught
in a time warp when there’s a rule change like this,” Schroeder
said.<BR><BR>Before 2007, the health district prevented replacement homes on
substandard sewer systems from having more bedrooms than the structures they
replaced. Schroeder said Chipman’s new house meets that old
standard.<BR><BR>Schroeder, Chipman and Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, met
with Panhandle Health officials in September to discuss the case, and all
sides came away thinking the problem had been resolved. Peck said Chipman’s
options include developing a compliant drain field to serve both structures so
she wouldn’t need to tear down the old cabin. On Oct. 13, she submitted a
permit to do just that, “so that is in process,” Peck said. However, she’s not
yet identified a site for a new drain field.<BR><BR>Meanwhile, Chipman’s
building permit has been extended to June to allow for that, Peck
said.<BR><BR>“I felt she had options,” Broadsword said.<BR><BR>Schroeder said
if the health district would just give Chipman an occupancy permit, he’d
withdraw his legislation. “I think government is being inflexible,” he said.
“I think a citizen got caught in the middle of a rule change.”<BR><BR>The
health district disagrees; Peck said its board will discuss Schroeder’s bill
at its meeting Thursday.<BR><BR>Broadsword said she thinks the district could
be more flexible. “I’m not saying the rule is bad – I just think there needs
to be a little more flexibility,” she said.<BR><BR>Schroeder likened it to a
situation in his district when the state department of Fish and Game changed
the border of a hunting unit, and hunters who didn’t realize the change had
happened took game on the wrong side of the line. The agency opted just to
give warnings the first year, he said.<BR><BR>“I want them to solve this,”
Schroeder said. “The rules have changed. … That’s my only
issue.”<BR><BR></DIV><!-- cg9.c3.mail.sp2.yahoo.com compressed/chunked Thu Jan 28 14:43:15 PST 2010 --></DIV><BR>
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