Following up on fruitful mediation talks with Blaine County officials, the developers of Cove Springs are now hard at work on a host of changes to their subdivision application. The changes, which they hope will convince county leaders to change their minds and approve the project, could be complete before the end of the year.
"We feel the mediation was successful," Flannes said during a County Commission meeting on Tuesday.
For months, Cove Springs Development, Inc. sought to convince the Blaine County Commission to agree to mediation talks after the officials unanimously denied the controversial project in late 2007.
Each time, the commissioners rejected the idea. Seeing that their requests for mediation were going nowhere, the developers ultimately sued the county in an effort to have the commissioners' decision reversed and get their project back on track.
Cove Springs developers filed their lawsuit in 5th District Court in Hailey on Jan. 8, claiming the county was wrong to deny the proposed 307-lot subdivision project eyed for rural farmland five miles south of Bellevue. The suit alleged improper procedure and arbitrary and capricious application of the law, lack of due process and the existence of bias and conflicts of interest.
Except in a few instances, the court case presided over by 5th District Court Judge Robert Elgee was going well for the Cove Springs group, much to the displeasure of county leaders. This led some county officials to complain that the judge was going about the case the wrong way.
"I think it's judicial activism," Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman said last June. "He's doing everything backwards and we're not pleased with it."
Earlier this summer, county attorneys learned that they wouldn't be able to appeal several decisions made by Elgee. Against their objections, Elgee allowed Cove Springs' attorneys to serve subpoenas on a number of public and private entities who had submitted oral or written comments during the several-year hearing process before the county. Those subpoenaed included representatives from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Wood River Land Trust, Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Smart Growth and staff with the county Planning and Zoning Department. All had come out against the project during the county's consideration of the development application.
Finally, in late August, county officials agreed to enter into mediation talks with the Cove Springs developers, who offered to pay for the entire process. The developers said that if the talks were successful, they would drop their costly lawsuit in favor of a negotiated compromise.
"We are prepared to dismiss that litigation entirely," the attorney for the Cove Springs project, Martin Flannes, told the commission.
After six long sessions spanning about 40 hours, the two sides wrapped up the mediation process on Monday, Sept. 29. County officials and the Cove Springs developers both seem pleased with the results of the talks.
Now, the developers of the Cove Springs project are aiming to have their revised application ready for consideration by county officials as early as Dec. 1 under a deal being forged with the county, the attorney for the project said Tuesday.
"We're starting to work right now," Flannes told the commissioners.
Representatives from both sides—the developers and the county—came together Tuesday to discuss the results of the mediation process and consider how to proceed.
In denying the project on Oct. 18 of last year, the three-member commission cited the development's large size, scope and location in rural Blaine County, as well as its potential impacts on wildlife and the local agriculture industry.
Next Tuesday at 12:45 p.m., the commission will discuss and possibly approve a mediation statement, which will detail what was discussed during the mediation, as well as a remand agreement that sets forth the steps the county and the Cove Springs developers will take in the weeks and months ahead. The county and the developers must both sign off on the mediation statement and remand agreement before the revised application process can move forward.
Flannes did not say what changes they may make to the original application in an effort to convince county leaders to ultimately approve the large project.
Blaine County Deputy Prosecutor Tim Graves said the mediation statement will be a "very thorough document" that lays out what agreements have come out of the mediation, which the Cove Springs developers paid for.
Graves, who was present throughout the talks, said the county has not agreed to anything in terms of changes to the development application.
"We haven't committed to anything," he said.
As long as the revised application process continues to move forward successfully, the Cove Springs developers have agreed to delay their lawsuit against the county, Flannes said.
