East Lake Meadows, a proposed planned community south of Donnelly with 466 residential units, received the approval of Valley County commissioners Monday over protests from Donnelly city officials.

The project, proposed by Utah real estate developer Dan Christensen passed in a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Frank Eld voting against the proposal.

The 87-acre project would be built at the intersection of Barker Lane and Old State Highway and about 100 feet outside the boundary of the Donnelly impact area.

The site is adjacent to the proposed Buffalo Basin planned unit development the county planning and zoning commission passed last month.

At build-out, the planned community would have 72 duplex units, 48 four-plex units, 50 five-plex units, 216 eight-plex units and 80 apartments.

It would offer as amenities 3-1/2 miles of pathways, a swimming pool, two tennis courts, a clubhouse, and at least nine "tot lots" combination playground and picnic areas, and a convenience store.

The developer of East Lake Meadows has asked for variances to street width and lot setbacks. The project would have inside streets 50 feet wide and 10 feet between residential buildings.

Streets would have an additional 10 feet on each side left as open spacefor possible future expansion. An assortment of multi-family residential buildings would be organized in clusters throughout the development. A strip of wetland would be left as open space. About 57 percent of the land would be left as open space. Eld criticized the project saying it violated the spirit of the county's land-use ordinance. He also insisted trade-offs proposed by Christensen and his team weren't sufficient to warrant the variances.

Commission Chairman Jerry Winkle and Commissioner Cordon Cruickshank saw sufficient trade-offs in amenities to warrant their approval, although at first they were inclined to accept Eld's arguments.

Cruickshank recommended the private road system stay that way and that the county not assume responsibility for its care.

Donnelly Mayor George Dorris and City Clerk Judy Linman, spoke against the project, and Dorris shared Eld's opinion. Linman criticized the developer for not consulting with the city during planning.

"Gentlemen, that gives him the opportunity to gate the whole bloody community, every phase in it except possibly the (convenience) store." - Donnelly Mayor George Dorris

Dorris came with a full plate of worries and hammered at flaws he saw in the plan, which included storage units along the Old State Highway, 10-foot space between residences, and packed gravel pathways.

He worried the development could evolve into a gated community as the developer requested gating on some phases and proposed a private clubhouse and other amenities.

"Gentlemen, that gives him the opportunity to gate the whole bloody community, every phase in it except possibly the (convenience) store," Dorris said to commissioners.

He argued the waiver requests were no basis for county concessions, and urged the developer be required to install a turn lane on Idaho 55 onto Loomis Lane.

Linman said the developer never consulted with the city even though his project is inside the city's proposed impact area.

She found contradictory the developer's willingness to pay the McCall-Donnelly School District $600 per market rate unit to offset the cost of new students, but not to pay for demand placed by a larger student body on the city water system.

Christensen felt property taxes generated by his project should offset any burden added to fire and law enforcement agencies, but Dorris urged the developer pay up front.

Christensen said his intention was not to gate the community. "When we stated some of the sections or phases may be gated, that's not something that is in our plans but is allowable, in our plans," Christensen said. Sewer and water service would come from the North Lake Recreational Sewer and Water District.