Date: December 2015, June 2016
Primary Source Link/s:
Bonner County Code, See Title 11, Chapter 1
What Has Changed: Bonner County adopted several separate ordinance changes making three major changes to the code.
- Expanding the maximum size of structures exempted from requiring a BLP.
- Shop buildings, detached agricultural structures, and other detached structures devoid of septic service expanded 400 square feet to 1,000 square feet.
- The exemption for decks was increased from 400 square feet to 600 square feet
- Allowance of an open, non-inhabitable addition of up to 800 square feet to an agricultural structure.
- Eliminating a regulation that prevented utility companies and co-ops from delivering power to a site prior to the issuance of a building location permit.
- Eliminating the Panhandle Health District (PHD) or applicable sewer district sign-off on all BLPs.
| Pros | Cons |
| Can build bigger non-habitable structures without a permit. | Without a permit, no one will verify setbacks from property lines and waterbodies. There will likely be violations and this may increase the number of appeals to the County Commissioners. |
| Removes the Panhandle Health District fee of $75 for septic review, as well as, the time needed for the review. | With fewer notifications about building projects being reviewed by the Panhandle Health District, the likelihood of property owners building over their septic system or the space reserved for a replacement septic system increases. In addition to making the septic system difficult to service, building over a septic system or drainfield comes with potentially serious impacts on public and environmental health. When these issues reveal themselves, the cost of moving a building off of the system will fall on the land owner and will likely be very expensive. |
To learn more about septic systems please link to our fact sheet “What is a Septic System?”