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The Idaho Enterprise
July 28, 2022
New Event Venue “The White Robin” opens near summit You may have noticed construction on the restored farmhouse and barn near the bottom of the summit on Old Highway 191 over the last several months. The location, which has been officially named the “White Robin,” has opened for reservations as a new event venue for the county. While its focus is on weddings, the venue is also open to corporate functions, parties, family reunions, and any number of other events. The property also includes a large field, which may be used to host dry camping events in conjunction with those held at the facility proper. Nestled alongside the stream near the climb to the summit, the location offers a facility for indoor and outdoor seating in a shaded, rustically well-appointed property. The large, renovated barn can seat a full wedding party, and contains additional outdoor seating for dozens of attendees. The house on the property contains a bridal room for wedding preparations, and facilities for caterers as well. “The name ‘White
Ne'Cole Tracy shows off the White Robin's Bridal Room
Robin’ came from when we were getting this all set up,” Ne’Cole Tracy said. “When we were painting the barn, he told me we had a nest of robins up there that didn’t seem like they wanted to move.” “He,” in this case, is husband and co-owner Bobby Tracy, who laughed. “We painted around them as long as we could, just hoping they would eventually leave. Luckily they did.” “Ne’Cole bought the house about seven years ago,” Bobby said. “She kept saying—even on our second date if I remember right—we could do this and this and this, and we kind of came up with the con-
cept from there. She’s been thinking about it forever. We’ve just been adding to it ever since.” Bobby has mostly been in charge of the remodeling and landscaping, with the help of Gabe’s Landscaping. “We wanted to make sure to keep it as natural as possible outside, to make a great environment for everyone using it.” The stream-side seating area is a clear reflection of this, as the sounds of gently rolling water can be heard throughout the location, and the river tree shade provides a refreshing respite from the otherwise unrelenting sun of midsummer. Garlands of soft overhead outdoor lights cre-
Just below the summit, the White Robin offers facilities for all types of events
ate a lovely cultivated outdoor elegance to the outdoor seating areas. Plans are underway for further additions and refinements. “We want to put grass in all up there,” Bobby said, pointing up the slope from the stream bank. “And some white fencing. Though we want to keep it all as wild looking as possible, and as open as we can. Just—listen to that,” he paused. “The sound of that stream is amazing. That’s something we want to preserve.” Bobby and Ne’Cole themselves were mar-
ried at the location two years ago, and their children soon followed. “Ne’Cole decided that she didn’t want to do the ‘old barn look,’ so we decided on ‘barn with elegance.’” The finished product certainly fits that description. “We used the input of people who really know what they’re doing,” Ne’Cole said. “My oldest daughter McKenna is a professional photographer, so we took a lot of her knowledge into account when we decided how to decorate the barn. The lighting in
there is designed to be as perfect as possible for wedding pictures.” The open house allowed the public to tour the facility, see the location set up as it might be for a wedding, and meet the owners. The open house featured decorations by Edith’s Collective, Simply by Cheryl and refreshments from the Frozen Cow and Bamma Wammas. The White Robin is located at 10990 N Old Highway 191 and can be contacted for event reservations at (801) 5130961.
PUBLIC HEARING ON COUNTY DEVELOPMENT CODE Last week, the county’s Planning and Zoning, Board of County Commissioners, private citizen, and contractors responsible for the county’s new development code met to present information and take public input on the new code. The at-times contentious meeting ultimately resulted in the approval of the development code, which was been under construction for over a year, with some recommended changes. The Development Code will regulate the wide range of activities throughout the county that require oversight, including construction, land sales, land use, roads, and a range of other issues. The largest tension expressed during the public hearing was between the desire to attempt to regulate and control growth throughout the county in the future, and a resistance to what was perceived as increased regulation of private property in the course of doing so. While the Code’s creators agreed that the ideas expressed in the code represented a balance between those two poles, it was also explained that the existing Idaho codes, when applied to the existing Oneida county code, did not actually provide any more protection to landowners than the new code did. In fact, it was the belief of Cherese McLain and Mike Williams that the new code allowed for mechanisms home and landowners might use to protect their land rights which previously had not existed. The prior Oneida county development code used a “multipurpose” land use model, where any piece of property throughout the C Y
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county might be used for any purpose, provided it had been permitted in the first place. This regulatory system allows for (in the words that were used frequently throughout the meeting) a “hodgepodge” of “piecemeal” developments throughout the county. This situation allows, for instance, for the location of industrial, commercial, residential, and agricultural developments adjacent to one another. The newly adopted code creates a series of zoned areas, wherein use is confined to the designated explanations of the zone types, as explained in the Code’s expanded definition section. Most importantly, the kind of developments, land sales, and uses permitted in those zones would be subject to regulation according to the much more specific definitions than had previously been in place. There were several caveats that the county attorney and the writers of the code wanted to clarify for those in attendance at the public meeting. First, the addition of zoning to the county’s map does not mean that any activities (which were legal to begin with) on currently used land would need to be changed. Those uses which might be outside of the newly created zones would simply be recognized as “non-conforming” uses, but not restricted or outlawed as long as they had already been in place. Again, as long as the current activity on the land has no legal issue, it will essentially be grandfathered in. However, any expansion of the current, “non-conforming” use of the property will be subject to a public permit-
ting and hearing process in order to be expanded. An agricultural property in a residential zone, for instance, would not have to change its operation as a result of the zoning implementation. However, in order to expand the size or type of agricultural practices undertaken on the land, the landowner would need to approach the Zoning board. Additionally, the “Right to Farm” law protects in place agricultural concerns against nuisance complaints resulting from any of the issues related to running an ag operation—primarily related to noise, odor, and aesthetics. During the course of discussion, it was determined that many residents felt that the permitted uses for some of the zones should be expanded, which was taken under advisement by the commission. The second thing that the group felt was important to get across was that none of the zoning changes are without recourse for change. Rezoning is possible in any area, and the board expressed a willingness to work with landowners interested in changing the designations of their properties under the new map. Since many of the existing properties will not see major effects from the new code, the largest effects will be on any subsequent land sales or splits, which are governed by the planning aspect of the zoning map. The rules governing what kind of sales can be performed in the different zones—agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial, public, and rural residential—all affect how land can be parceled out for development as a result of sales.
The agricultural and “rural residential” designations generated the most discussion of the evening. Rural Residential is a new designation for areas with a largely rural composition, but which are near current residential areas or in areas where future growth is anticipated. The new code allows for residential lot sales to be made on lots into new 5 acre resulting plots. As is the case with developments throughout the county, the subdivision rules apply. The subdivision rules essentially say that a property can be subdivided once without needing further bureaucracy. However, when an original lot is divided again, up to 4 resulting lots, it is required to undergo the process for a minor subdivision. A lot that becomes subdivided up to 30 times requires a “Full Subdivision” application and approval process. Any subdivisions of over 30 lots requires a “Large Scale Subdivision” process. In rural residential zones, the lot size is limited to a minimum of 5 acres. In standard residential zones, the lot size has a minimum of 1 acre. Agricultural land opened up a number of issues of concern to those in attendance, in the context of residential sales within the zone. Under the new code, lots in agricultural zones were required to be 40 acres, as a result of “Density requirements,” which prohibit more than one residence on less than 40 acres. This means that a split into four lots of a 160-acre initial property could result in no more than 4 residences on the total resulting combined acreage. The individual plots within the original
acreage might not all be 40 each themselves, however. The code also calls for the residences to be in contiguous locations in order to preserve the largest amount of consolidated agricultural land. A 40 acre plot could not be subdivided in an agricultural zone unless it were rezoned to one of the other types, in which case subdivision laws would go into effect. As this issue was one of the most contentious during the hearing, it received a good deal of input from the public. As a result of a number of comments from citizens, the Board of County Commissioners ultimately decided to include a process for exceptions to this section of the new code for any number of unanticipated circumstances which might arise. The other issue which occupied much of the public hearing was, predictably, water. The Code writers stressed that the various zoning designations were on some level designed to mitigate issues related to the overextension of water supplies. Mike Williams clarified that is the county wished to, it could use the “developer agreement” element of the code to require any development of over a certain number of residences to require a closed water system, rather than individual wells. This would prevent all lots within a large subdivision from drilling individual domestic wells. The 40-acre ag limit is similarly designed to keep water supplies from being overburdened. One of the other primary changes, or clarifications, to the new code was that of ensuring that water rights were deed-
ed to the original land in any sale were maintained with the property itself. Another addition was language acknowledging that any splits to the property which resulted from bank action (a “mortgage split”) was not included in the county recording as part of the land splitting regulations which governed subdivision requirements. Another important section of the new development code ordinance incorporates the recently approved new road and bridge standards into the county’s building regulations. This allows for changes to the road standards to be passed and addressed with regard to those standards themselves, rather than requiring changes to the development code itself. It was stressed by the Code developers, the county attorney, and the commissioners that the code will likely see some revisions in the future as some of the practical elements of the code go into effect, and can be evaluated on their actual results. The commission also stated, though, that it was important to have a basis for beginning to more effectively regulate growth in the county on the books as a starting point. Not all members of the public in attendance were satisfied with the contents of the code, and it remains to be seen how the code will potentially evolve over time with further input. After being approved by the Board of County Commissioners at their Monday July 25 meeting, the ordinance will go into effect following its publication in the paper.
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