The Oldtown, Idaho, City Council has approved a request by a group of property owners to annex about 400 acres of land into the small town, doubling its size and paving the way for future development.

The annexation should be finalized soon, says Sheila Gormey, city clerk-treasurer for Oldtown, located just east across the state border from Newport, Wash.

One of the primary pieces of property involved in the annexation is 200 acres that fronts the north bank of about a mile and a half of the Pend Oreille River, owned by Steve Linton, president of Tri-Pro Cedar Products Inc., and his family members. Until now, Oldtown's city limit has been the south bank of the river.

Linton says his family has been involved with other developments in Idaho, including Hayden Creek Plaza, in Hayden, and the Cottage Grove housing development in Coeur d'Alene. He says that while Tri-Pro's business has been hurt in the recession, his family has long considered developing further its land there.

Linton says Tri-Pro Cedar occupies only about 40 acres of the overall site. He says that while his family has no immediate development plans, they recognize that any development there isn't feasible without access to city-like water and sewer services. He says the other property owners involved in the action also are thinking of future development potential.

Linton and some of those landowners formed the West Bonner Investment Company LLC, which is seeking creation of an urban renewal district to pay for extending water and sewer services across the river to the newly annexed land, Linton says. He says it's not clear yet how much such a project would cost, but West Bonner Investment has hired the Panhandle Area Council to help it with creation of the urban renewal district.

The city doesn't provide water and sewer service, Gormey says. Rather, the West Bonner Water and Sewer District serves city residents, and the landowners also have requested to be included in that district. The district contracts with the city of Newport for sewage-treatment services, and provides water services to a portion of Newport, Gormey says.

The city also proposed rezoning the land to be annexed, to a mix of commercial, light industrial, public recreational, and residential zoning from mostly industrial and agricultural land.

"We do need to diversify as far as the job situation goes. People here have relied on the timber industry so long; I'm sure that's one of the foremost things on their mind," Gormey says.