Idaho logic
Idaho logic just came here to roost. The
Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the Idaho Land Board could develop open-pit mines
on state lands anywhere.
The court struck down a lower court
opinion that would have required the state to comply with local zoning
ordinances.
It mattered not to the high court that an
open-pit mine, in this case a gravel operation in Ohio Gulch, is near a
residential area or that the pit violates Blaine County zoning.
The court read the law to give the state
the right to lease its land for mines, grazing, oil, gas and geothermal
development, and single-family home sites. In other words, the state can wreck
any neighborhood it wants anyway it wants if it owns property there.
The court said the Idaho Legislature had
given the Land Board this right.
Well, if the Legislature gave the board
the right, it’s time for it to take it away.
The elected officials who serve on the
Land Board need reigning in to prevent damage to communities by ill-conceived
developments like the gravel mine planned for Ohio Gulch.
One bright spot in the decision: The state
must comply with local zoning governing industrial enterprises, retail outlets,
business and professional office buildings, hospitality enterprises, commercial
recreational activities, multi-family residential developments and other similar
businesses.
As the dust rises and the big trucks roll
in Ohio Gulch, residents can ponder the logic that lets the state develop mines,
but not condos, without consulting anyone.