FREMONT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PUBLIC HEARING ROAD VALIDATION/ VACATION HEARING FOR NORTHEAST SAGEHEN DRIVE/MORNING DEW DR HELD AT THE FREMONT COUNTY ANNEX December 18, 2017 7:00PM Present for the meeting was: Commissioners Jordon Stoddard, Lee Miller and Bill Baxter Also attended by: Clerk Abbie Mace, Deputy Clerk Amy Stoddard, Planning & Building Administrator Tom Cluff, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brock Bischoff and Public Works Director Brandon Harris Commissioner Stoddard called the hearing to order and welcomed those in attendance, introduced county employees in attendance. Ryan Booth led the pledge. Commissioner Stoddard ask if any of the Commissioners have a conflict on this hearing. There were no conflicts. Commissioner Stoddard turned the time over to Planning & Building Administrator Tom Cluff to explain the purpose for the hearing. Planning & Building Administrator Tom Cluff presents his report and exhibits as Exhibit #1. He explained his report. He identified the status of the roads whether they are public or private. Exhibit A is the final plat of the Icehouse Creek Subdivision. Exhibit B are the P&Z meeting minutes. Exhibit C are the written comments that were submitted for this hearing. Exhibit D is an original letter from Engineering Ventures to Rodney Eastvold. Exhibit E is a letter from Michael Donahoo of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to Adrienne Keller of the US Forest Service. Exhibit F are the County staff s analysis of the preliminary plat. Exhibit G is the letter to Tom Brooks from Rod Eastvold. Exhibit H is the SUP application for Icehouse subdivision access road, prepared by Tom Brooks. Exhibit I is the USFS environmental study for Icehouse road SUP. He concluded with the analysis of whether to keep road public or vacate the road. He recommends consider vacating the portion of the road that lies within Icehouse Creek Subdivision if choose to do so the HOA would agree to make suitable arrangements to take over the road and grant permission to emergency responders to open the gates in an emergency. Commissioner Baxter asked Mr. Cluff in the beginning does this only concern the roads in Icehouse Creek Subdivision. Mr. Cluff stated yes this is about Icehouse Creek Subdivisions roads as of right now. If they want to talk about vacating roads in Shotgun West Subdivision that will need to be done in a separate hearing.
Commissioner Miller asked talking about the emergency vehicle access was there anything in our development code at the time when either of these subdivisions were being created requiring there be an ingress or egress road. Mr. Cluff answered that he doesn t know that development code specifically but he does know that from the record that Planning and Zoning and County Staff were concerned that there be two accesses to this subdivision. It appears at the time the county wanted all subdivisions to have two accesses that was a requirement for the developer. Commissioner Stoddard asked the Clerk Abbie Mace if we have received any written comments. Clerk Abbie Mace stated we have received written letters. Commissioner Stoddard asked if the hearing had been properly noticed. Clerk Mace stated that it had. Clerk Mace stated that written comments would have to have been submitted to the County Clerk s Office 8 days prior to the hearing. Clerk Mace asked the Commissioners if they wanted to accept a letter that was received late and an emailed letter from a patron that had to miss the hearing because of a family emergency. Commissioners allowed the two letters to be accepted as part of the record and accepted all the written comments as part of the record. Commissioner Stoddard explained the procedure for the hearing. Jeff Patlovich 637 W 2 nd S St. Anthony, representative for Thomas Brooks s developer and majority owner for Icehouse Creek Subdivision. He submitted a binder which is Exhibit 2 that was identical of what Mr. Cluff reported. Mr. Patlovich went over Idaho Code 4203 and 4023A which talks about the highway jurisdiction these are roads that the county have had no interest in over 20 years. He feels that when the plat was made there was a mistake made on the plat. It says these roads are open to the public. He went over the environmental documents which had an ease agreement between the Forest Service and Icehouse Creek only. They are not for adjacent subdivisions it was an agreement to come down from Yale Kilgore Road over a mile down to the North side of Icehouse Creek Subdivision. He feels that these roads that are open to the public is to look at the existing houses or lots that may be available to buy, he feels that these roads are not public for adjacent subdivisions. The HOA maintained the roads and have had no help from the county. If the road is vacated they will maintain the road and are willing to allow access for EMS and Fire Department. Commissioner Miller asked Mr. Patlovich if his concern only is the road access from the Yale Kilgore Road into that subdivision is the agreement between Mr. Brooks and the Forest Service and no agreement from Shotgun west concerning that portion of road access. Mr. Patlovich stated yes that s correct. Commissioner Stoddard explained the purpose of this hearing.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Ryan Booth 2801 NE Sagehen Dr. Island Park, He s a home owner in the Icehouse Creek Subdivision. He stated that the HOA along with Mr. Brooks have maintained the roads. To his understanding the gates have been locked since 1994. He was told that if the road is a public road the county will not maintain the road. He is in favor of the road being vacated. Carrie Booth 2801 NE Sagehen Dr. Island Park, She presented the commissioners with the Declaration of Covenants that was recorded February 1996. She is in favor of vacating the road. Julie Chilson 4058 SW Sagehen Island Park, She stated that she has been living there since 1996. She recalls that the gates were not locked at that time. There were hardly any roads or lots in that Subdivision at the time she has complained numerous times about the gates being locked. She feels that if there was a fire both residents of each subdivision would be trapped. She asks if the road is vacated that they keep the access open. She spoke to the Fire Marshall of Idaho and if the access is locked the fire rating would go up in the area, and the requirement for two access with 30 or more dwellings. What they do with the gates is not her concern. She just wants to be able to have emergency vehicles to be able to get through in an emergency situation. Commissioner Stoddard asked Mrs. Chilson if Shotgun West has an HOA. Mrs. Chilson stated not for roads a portion of the Subdivision has one for water. Bill Chilson 4058 SW Sagehen Island Park, He is for the validation of the road being open to the public. Valerie Stewart 2770 SW Sagehen Island Park, she stated the gates have not always been locked but have been locked all the time in the past couple years. Her biggest concern is if there was a fire they would be trapped. If road is vacated she would like to see a way for the emergency vehicles to get in. Clyde Jensen 2825 NE Sagehen Island Park, He has a home in Icehouse Creek Subdivision. He feels that if the road is deemed public the subdivision will decrease the value of his home and property. He asked if the road is public who will maintain the road. He feels that emergency vehicles need to be able to get into the subdivision. He is in favor of the road being vacated. Commissioner Miller asked if he was in favor of emergency access. Mr. Jensen stated yes he is in favor of having emergency access. Mark Morris 3406 Eagle Ave Island Park, He is the Administrator of the Icehouse Creek HOA. In 2007 he represented Mr. Brooks as a Real Estate agent. Mr. Brooks put the locked gates in that time to be a fire exit only. If you take these gates out they are concerned about the other two gates that are on the other two roads. They built the other gates to keep the cattle in. The key to the gates were given to one of the fireman in the Island Park Fire Department nothing has been done with them. He said they can give keys to the emergency responders as well as the Forest Service.
He stated that there are signs posted all around and at the entrance of Icehouse Creek Subdivision that the road is private. He is in favor of the road being vacated. Commissioner Baxter asked are those gates that keep the cattle in on the road in question or on different roads. Mr. Morris stated that they are East of Morning View Drive and to the East of North East Sagehen. Commissioner Baxter asked if these were different gates than what we have been talking about. Mr. Morris stated yes they are a different set of gates they were installed to keep the cattle out of the home owner s property. Commissioner Miller asked Mr. Morris if he was a realtor for the Subdivision and if he was aware when the CC&R s were written and also when the advertisement for the properties that those roads on the plat were deemed public. Mr. Morris stated no he wasn t aware that it was missed when he sold the property. Jan Fettig 2809 Morning Dew Dr. Island Park, She has felt since she has lived in Icehouse Creek that it has always been private and feels it should stay that way. She is in favor of the road being vacated. She is not opposed that emergency vehicles have access to the Subdivision. Nancy Hohler 2811 Morning Dew Dr. Island Park, She is a year round resident. She is not opposed to emergency vehicles to have access. She is in favor of the road being vacated. Tom Hohler 2811 Morning Dew Dr. Island Park, He is a year round resident. He is in favor of the road being vacated. Wayne Lewis 2775 NE Sagehen Island Park, He wants clarification when talking about the Icehouse Subdivision are they talking about the second access they obtained from the Forest Service and assuming we re talking about the first access with the two roads in question. Tom Cluff stated yes. Mr. Lewis stated that if the road is validated the taxes may raise. Each subdivision should come upon an agreement with the gates to allow access for emergency vehicles. Each subdivision roads should be maintained by the property owners that the gates should stay intact the way they are and make them accessible to get through in an emergency situation. He is in favor of the road being vacated and let each subdivision maintain their own roads as they choose. Brad Rodgers 4060 Sagehen Dr. Island Park, He is impacted the most his property is right at the gate which has been locked since 2014. He stated that there has been multiple ATV s that have been near the gate. Mr. Rodgers showed the commissioners a picture of the gates from the west side of Shotgun. He stated that if the road would be open to the public there would need to be improvements if the gate is taken out. He is in favor of the road being vacated. He feels that people
of the subdivisions should have access to a lock box that would be able to open the gate in an emergency situation. Cody Rodgers 4060 Sagehen Dr. Island Park, He agrees that there needs to be access for emergency vehicles to get through in favor of the road being vacated. Gary Stoker 2807 Morning Dew Dr. Island Park, If the road in question is vacated and the gates are open for emergency access at the end of Morning Dew he would like to make sure that road is fixed so there would be access to get out of the subdivision through that part of the road. Bryan Goody 2807 NE Sagehen Island Park, If the road is public the county will reassess the property value and feels his property value will go down. He is the one that put up the private drive signs and assumed that the road had always been private. He is concerned with the increase of traffic. He is in favor of the road being vacated but not opposed to emergency vehicles having access. Rick Fellows 4075 Sweet Alyssa Island Park. He lives in Icehouse Creek because of privacy and the winter access. He has lived there since 2007 and has never seen the gates open. He asked why the county would want this road public. He agrees that there should be something in place for emergency vehicles. He doesn t want the increase of traffic that he feels will happen if the road is public. He is in favor of the road being vacated. Commissioner Miller asked is the road in reference goes over to Willow Creek. Rick Fellows stated yes it is and it is on Forest Service ground. The commissioners were asked to clarify if it is two gates or one gate in question. They answered that it was two gates. Commissioner Stoddard asked if there was anyone else that would like to comment. Commissioner Stoddard closed the public comment portion of the hearing. Commissioner Stoddard thanked everyone for the comments and their attendance. The commissioners will take this under advisement and have 60 days to schedule another hearing or make a decision. The hearing was closed at 8:28pm by Commissioner Stoddard. Exhibit List: Exhibit #1- Administrators Report with attached Exhibits A-I from Tom Cluff Exhibit #2- Binder from Jeff Patlovich Personal Representative for Thomas Brooks There being no further business to come before the board, the hearing was adjourned.
Attest: Abbie Mace, Clerk Jordon Stoddard, Chairman Fremont County Commission