Hydroplane Opponents Nearer Goal Petition To Put Ban On Ballot Still Lacks About 800 Signatures

Hydroplane opponents turned in petitions with approximately 1,200 additional signatures Friday at City Hall.

But the question of prohibiting hydroplane races on Lake Coeur d’Alene won’t make the ballot without more supporters signing up.

The Protect Our Lakes Association has presented petitions with about 4,000 signatures to the city clerk. About 62 percent of those are checking out as valid.

That means Protect Our Lakes is probably still 800 signatures short of the 3,200 necessary to put the matter to a public vote. The 3,200 figure is derived by a formula set in state law, that requires signatures from 20 percent of the registered voters in Coeur d’Alene during the last city election.

If the group is still short, it will have an additional 30 days to try and make the mark, according to City Clerk Susan Weathers.

Protect Our Lakes is pushing ahead with door-to-door work. And organizers are not discouraged.

“If you look at the number of signatures, we have 4,000 people making a statement about hydroplane racing on Lake Coeur d’Alene,” said Kathy Canfield Davis of Protect Our Lakes.

Some of the people signing the petitions are in favor of the hydroplane races. But all of them want this decided at the polls, not “decided by a small group of people,” Canfield Davis said.

Commercial hydroplane racing ran on Lake Coeur d’Alene from 1958 to 1968 and was canceled after spectators got out of hand. There was an attempt to revive racing in 1985, but the matter ended up on the city ballot and the citizens resoundingly rejected the proposal.

Last November, the thunderboat question resurfaced and the City Council was set to review the proposal. It was withdrawn at the last minute, in part because of widespread opposition.

Fearing another attempt at racing would arise, Protect Our Lakes organized to get the question of a permanent ban on the ballot.

, DataTimes