County Plans To Build Docks, Boat Launches Improvements To Be Made At Five Sites; Waterways Officials Busy With Maintenance

The ChrisCraft is tucked away in a marina storage barn; the Bayliner’s in the back yard, covered with a tarp.

Boaters might assume that by Thanksgiving week things also had slowed down at the Kootenai County waterways department. They’d be wrong.

Navigation lights and buoys are being repaired, pump-out stations serviced, regulation signs repainted. Supervisor Terry Hubbard is meeting with contractors about the construction of docks and boat ramps at five sites.

“Hopefully, we’ll have all five done by the end of May,” said Hubbard.

Hubbard has a three-person crew, a secretary and a 1995 operating budget of $188,000. The money comes from the county’s share of boat registration fees.

Construction projects are paid for with grants from Idaho’s Waterways Improvement Fund, which receives .84 percent of state gas tax revenues. That amounts to about $800,000 annually.

Kootenai, which has more boaters than any of Idaho’s other 43 counties, got $116,000 this year to pay for improvements at:

Mowry Park: This popular spot, at the southwestern shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene, will get a new vault toilet to replace the outhouse. There will be two new boat docks, and a 48-inch-wide trail to provide wheelchair access to the picnic shelters.

Spokane Point: Also on Lake Coeur d’Alene’s southwest side. It gets a second boat ramp, so there will be one ramp for loading, and one for unloading. The idea is to eliminate a dangerous drivers’ “blind spot.”

Loffs Bay: Workers will pour a concrete ramp to replace an earthen one. They’ll install a new 50-foot dock and replace some pilings in this spot halfway up Lake Coeur d’Alene’s west side.

North Fernan: Two new docks will be built, and a concrete boat launch installed to replace an earthen one at the north end of Fernan Lake. That should take some pressure off the busy launch site at the south end.

Sportsman’s Park: Eight sections of dock and several pilings will be replaced at this Hayden Lake site. Also, a 50-foot dock will provide boater access to the campground, which no longer is open to vehicles.

In addition to those projects is a new Spirit Lake boat ramp that’s been in the works for a year, Hubbard said. The concrete was poured last week at Maiden Rock. It will improve lake access, which is made difficult by fluctuations in the water level.

In 1996-97, Hubbard hopes to get grants to pave boat-launch sites.

“We need to get up with the times,” he said, by getting rid of pothole-filled parking areas that can’t be marked with designated parking places.

Hubbard’s recommendations for grant requests go to the county waterways committee, which sends a “wish list” to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.

Much effort in the waterways department goes into maintaining county property. Hubbard’s small office at the Coeur d’Alene airport is attached to a big garage. It’s there that buoys are brought for repair after they’ve been hit by boats or barges, or shot by vandals.

Vandalism is a continuing problem. Duck hunters have been known to cut up county docks for firewood; ice fishermen have built fires right on the planks.

“The most expensive equipment to maintain are navigation lights,” said Hubbard.

A replacement lens costs $400. People have been known to shoot out the lights and steal the batteries.

The navigation light on Tubbs Hill needs major repairs. Someone climbed a cliff just to break it loose.

Another frustration for Hubbard is the impossibility of providing enough facilities for boaters. He’d especially like to see more launch sites.

“We’re not able to keep up with the number of people coming into the area,” he said. “The cost of waterfront property is out of sight.”

Hubbard, who’s been supervisor for two years, no longer has a boat of his own. He didn’t have time to enjoy it.

, DataTimes