To Whom it may concern,
As Many of you know there is a moratorium in Washington County Idaho on obtaining a building permit to build a home. Yes, I can agree on some of the things that it is for and some I cannot agree on. There are a lot of people that will be on both sides of the fence seeing growth in our area.
I have been trying to obtain a building permit on a piece of ground that I own. I want to build my dream home. The land is a part of the original homestead piece A1 Agriculture and should be able to obtain a building permit without cutting land up or subdividing it. My frustration with the Washington County building department is they cannot help or give any answers because they say the county commissioners have not given them any directions or guidance. So, they gave me a package and said complete this and turn it back in. I have gotten all my paperwork with the Southwest District Health Department for the septic system test; I have visited Washington County Road and Bridge to see about my driveway entrance and visited with the Washington County Rural dept about my driveway for emergency purposes.
As soon as I had everything completed the County Commissioners voted on a Moratorium. As if it wasn’t frustrating enough that the building department couldn’t give me any guidance and now there is a maximum 182-day mortarium on my dream. So, when this time is up it will be going into winter or bad weather seasons. You do not want to build a house during that time. So it will be spring before I can start if I obtain a building permit.
I have talked to Gordon Wilkerson who voted NO on this issue. He was very nice and understanding. I have tried to call Nate Marvin and Jim Harberd and they will not return my calls. We have elected these people, and they should at least give us an answer on what the county is going to do to fix this problem and move forward in a commonsense way with common sense laws. There was no need to totally shut down people who have legitimate parcels.
This moratorium will affect a lot more people than just the ones wanting to obtain a building permit. It will affect families and friends who are in construction in our area. It will affect the local stores that sell construction supplies to people building houses. It will affect the county budget because they are not pulling in revenue on new builds. There will be lawsuits, and the taxpayers will have to pick up the bill for this issue. This is a much bigger problem than most people think, and the Washington County Commissioners need to do the right thing before this “snowball” that has grown gets totally out of control.
I am only writing this letter because I am truly frustrated with the two county commissioners who voted YES on the moratorium. They will not call me back, so I hope they read my letter and give the building department some guidance. Thank you, Gordon Wilkerson, for the nice talk you were pleasant to talk to and thank you for voting NO on the moratorium.
Thank you for listening to my rant,
Lonnie Chambers
