Letter to the Editor by Brad Shaw of Sagle, Idaho
Apparently, if you are a Sagle resident who recognizes that a large-scale downhill mountain bike park doesn’t belong in a rural residential neighborhood, you are a rich, selfish, 60-year-old transplant according to Jason Welker, Sandpoint’s Planning Community Development director.
Welker’s public comment for CUP0002-24 states:
Once again the NIMBYs of Bonner County are trying to tell their neighbors what they can and can’t do on their property. Mountain biking is clearly a low intensity recreation activity and a facility like PBR is a conditionally permitted use in this RR zone. The idea that the neighbors would be better off with a 30 home subdivision or a gravel pit back there is insane to me. One of the neighbors in the first CUP hearing even had the gall to say she doesn’t want to loe her favorite place to ride horses. This property has been used by dirt bikers without permission for decades to access state land to the south. This is what the opposition is really about. They are pissed they are losing their private playground to a group they don’t like… Mountain biking is a family sport and having a bike park in Bonner County will bring opportunities to BC youth that they’d never otherwise have. I’m 100% in support of this CUP application and am honestly disgusted by the lies and rhetoric of the selfish opposition to this amazing amenity coming to town. Freedom for me but no for thee at its worst. “Me the People” “Bonner County: Land of the Me.”
Come on BC Time to start respecting private property rights and welcoming new opportunities for kids in the county that’s being taken over by rich, selfish, 60 year old transplants who think they can come here and tell their neighbors what they can and can’t do with their property.
