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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Resort Drops Land Board Request Hagadone Corp. Won’t Try To End Sanders Beach Access When It Negotiates A New Floating Green Lease

Betsy Z. Russell Susan Drumheller Con Staff writer

Hagadone Corp. won’t try to close a stretch of Sanders Beach to the public after all.

“The company has changed their position,” state Department of Lands official Bryce Taylor said Monday. “They did indicate to us that they had had some comments from the public, and that it appeared this issue would not look good.”

The state Land Board is scheduled to hear Hagadone’s request to renew its lease for the Resort Golf Course floating golf green this morning.

But the company has notified the state it will alter its request. Originally, it had asked that a 10-year renewal of the lease include lowering the rent and allowing the company to delete the decade-old beach-access requirement with 90 days notice.

Hagadone Corp. officials couldn’t be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

John Bentley and the Kootenai Environmental Alliance sued the state over the green lease 10 years ago. Their settlement resulted in the lease agreement that’s now up for renewal.

Bentley said Monday he was pleased with the decision to withdraw the request. He complimented Hagadone Hospitality president Jerry Jaeger for being a “reasonable” man.

“I’m just happy that they’ve re-thought that all the way through, Bentley said. “As long as the Hagadone people enjoy the use of the green, then I think they’re obligated to meet their part of the agreement with the people.”

Taylor said the company now is asking instead that the lease renewal continue the current terms, with the addition of a cap so that rent won’t rise higher than its current level.

No other state lease has a rent ceiling, Taylor said. Although he said the department needs time to study the request, “I guess my initial reaction is I’m uncomfortable with a ceiling.”

Taylor said he doesn’t expect the board to vote on it until January.

The beach-access requirement was part of a deal brokered by then-Gov. Cecil Andrus 10 years ago, when the resort first anchored its floating golf green on the stateowned waters of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The Land Board voted 3-2 in favor of Hagadone’s plans. But Andrus found a 1927 water rights law that gives the governor supreme power over the state’s waterways, and blocked plans for the floating green until Hagadone agreed to provide public access to the beach.

The deal came after negotiations with the Kootenai Environmental Alliance. The alliance had sued the state over the issue, saying a private party shouldn’t control a large chunk of a public lake and also citing concerns about pollution from the golf course.

The floating green - the 14th hole of the 18-hole resort golf course - has brought the course worldwide attention.

Hagadone Corp. Vice President John Barlow, in a letter to the state, called the green “an integral part of the success of the golf course and the Coeur d’Alene Resort’s success.”

Rent for the floating green is set at $15,000 a year, or 2 percent of gross green fees, whichever is higher. But unanticipated costs to run the course have pushed greens fees up, and Hagadone now is paying close to $30,000 a year in rent.

“This increase in revenue and subsequent rent increase is not necessarily reflective of increased earnings,” Barlow wrote. “We would like to pay a fair rate, and ask for your input.”

The rent for the floating green is the lowest percentage rate of any lease on state waters, but it’s the highest dollar value, Taylor said.

Although total greens fees are used to calculate the rent, only six acres of the more than 100-acre golf course are actually on state waters. The rest is private land.

Said Taylor, “I certainly don’t want anyone to think that company is a cheapskate….They’ve always paid their rent on time, and been fair about it.”

Twenty percent of the rent is rebated to the company in exchange for public access to 500 feet of Sanders Beach. Another 20 percent is directed to the Kootenai County Waterways Fund for public boat launching facilities. The county fund has accumulated about $43,000.

Bentley said he had no objection to a cap on the rent as long as it’s appropriate and the county continues to collect its 20 percent share.

The Hagadone Corp. originally had asked for the option of ending public access if it decided to develop its lakefront land.

Taylor said, “They realized that they can develop without having that beach declared private.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Betsy Z. Russell Staff writer Staff writer Susan Drumheller contributed to this report.

Cut in Spokane edition

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Betsy Z. Russell Staff writer Staff writer Susan Drumheller contributed to this report.