Is Your Shared Driveway Legally Considered a Road?
On Monday, March 17th, the Adams County Commissioners met at the Adams County Courthouse. All commissioners were present, however, Commissioner Vicki Purdy was present via zoom due to the road closures. The commissioners opened the meeting with a public hearing for a new fee schedule for technology allowing for self service access to recorded documents. The new fee schedule was printed in the paper. There was no public comment at the hearing and no written comment had been received, so the commissioners approved Resolution 2025-12, adopting the new fee schedule for recording.
Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, said that Mountain Origins, who is working on things at Brundage, submitted the final plat application for a portion of Phase 1B. They are doing the west portion now. There is a 30 day internal review next to make sure they have all the necessary documents in place. Brundage has also submitted an application for preliminary plat of Phase 2, which is also going through technical review. It will probably be coming to the commissioners around June or July and they need to decide whether a public hearing is necessary.
Fisher said they are also still looking at potential changes to the setback ordinance. Recently it came up again at a property in New Meadows that has an easement going along an old Forest Service road and is used to access several houses and one large lot that may be developed further in the future. Currently the ordinance says that if the road is used to access more than four houses, it is considered a road and not a driveway. It doesn’t matter if it is public or private it has to adhere to the same setback requirements for building. Commissioner Daren Ward thought that could be a huge can of worms for private driveways, and cited his own driveway as an example, where there is an easement going through his property that services five homes. He thought that could be an excessive setback going through private properties. Fisher confirmed that it would be considered a road the way the ordinance is currently written. Ward thought the setbacks made sense for public roads but not for private roads and driveways. Fisher said that is definitely something that could be changed. County Prosecuting Attorney, Peter Donovan, said to be careful, if they make changes, to specify road easements if that’s all they want it to apply to, as there are many other types of easements. Commissioner Viki Purdy thought they needed to be careful about taking usable property away from people, she said she wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with 20’ from property lines. She thought it depends too on whether it’s a developed subdivision or whether it’s just serving four or five houses. Commissioner Joe Iveson thought maybe they should make the setback for building ten feet from the edge of property line or edge of the road easement. Fisher said she could put together a draft for them to look at but they should leave some wiggle room for special circumstances.
Next, the commissioners looked at an old ordinance prohibiting possession of wild animals. Prosecuting Attorney, Peter Donovan, found this wildlife ordinance that had been established many years ago, and realized it technically made it illegal to possess a porcupine for the Fourth of July Porcupine Races anywhere in the county except in the city limits. He thought that they might want to change the ordinance so that people in the county could legally possess a porcupine for the race. “Probably the most important thing on the agenda today!” He joked, and the others laughingly agreed. Commissioner Ward said there was some regulation about how far in advance you could pick up a porcupine and the commissioners thought they should look up the rules and make sure the changes they made were consistent with the guidelines so they tabled the ordinance until next week.
After that, the commissioners approved Resolution 2025-07, changing the mileage reimbursement rate from $0.67 per mile to $0.70 per mile. Clerk Sherry Ward said she ran through the checking account for the Fair Board and everything looked in order, minus a few missing receipts. Commissioner Ward said he was interviewed for and appointed to the WICAP board and was appointed as the commissioner representative to the Idaho Jail Standards Committee. Ward also said he ran into a community member who plays pickleball who said the Pickleball League was told they couldn’t raise the hoops in the Rec Center without permission from the commissioners. The Pickleball League is getting large and meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday from 9-11 at the Rec Center. The commissioners thought that it was slightly ludicrous that they needed permission and Commissioner Iveson said he would talk to the Rec Center and make sure they have permission to raise the hoops.
County Clerk Sherry Ward said she had a quote for election tabulators ready for the commissioners. She said she had $30,000 in funds from the state that she can use to help offset it. The total is around $59,000, plus a hardened computer which she thought the quote was too expensive and is having them redo it. The commissioners wanted to wait for the quote for the computer to come back before approving it.
Steve Shelton, with Solid waste, said things are good. They are hauling rock from the county pit. He had a quote for containers for the commissioners to look at but said he’d wait until after the forklift to see where they were with capital. Then they went into executive session.
Adam Balderson, with Road and Bridge, said everything is saturated from the rain. He did get a price for a loader with a wing and plow and it would be $394,000, with discounts, to own it. This would replace the Council one. The commissioners asked how much they could get for the old one, Balderson wasn’t sure, but said “I don’t think they’re getting cheaper anytime soon.”
Sheriff Ryan Zollman arrived after another executive session and had several contracts for the commissioners to sign. He said there are 21 state inmates and 3 county in the jail. He said to thank Building Inspector Kody Williams for fixing the door, and it works better now than ever before.
Regarding Highway 95, is it washed out all the way to the river. ITD is very concerned about it. The engineer was out this morning looking at it. They are not reopening it right now. There is a drill rig coming tomorrow. They are putting H braces in to put a retaining wall and start building it back up. There is a hard closure staying in place until Wednesday morning at least. It may be open for emergency vehicles only in the meantime. Even after Wednesday it will probably only be opened for passenger vehicles at first.
Next was a meeting and update from the Forest Service. Council District Ranger, Jeff Jones, was the only one who could make it in due to the road closures, but he had an update from New Meadows. He said Granite Goose is currently being edited to comply with the new executive orders. Last Chance Road and Campground will be closed again this summer. Forestwide wood permits will start May 15th and will be available to purchase online as well this year. In the Council District, the Lava fire salvage was sold to Highland Logging. They are currently wrapping up the mandatory units. There were three mandatory units to be done over the snow. Cold bug, which Mahon was logging, is pretty much wrapped up. They are planning prescribed burning for spring up Mill Creek, Council Mountain, and by Middle Fork of the Weiser, Fall Creek area, and maybe by Huckleberry.
The good news for Lava is the two bridges that were lost are being covered under federal highways and they are a priority to replace. The Four Bit Bridge should be in by fall or late fall.
They are wrapping up meetings for CE’s for mining exploration on Cuddy Mountain and a description should be sometime in August. The scooping period should be coming next week. It’s just exploration right now. The most severely burned areas on the Lava Fire are closed for grazing, but some areas higher up may be open. They are already working with permittees for that area and are working to push them a little higher up on the mountain and condense what they have left. They are still trying to accommodate them but not risk loss of vegetation. Whether they open it up for firewood depends on how it does though winter.
Jones said he’s retiring in two weeks, March 31st is his last day. It has not been established yet how they are doing leadership after he leaves. The commissioners congratulated Jones on his retirement.
