CdA to get new beach along river

Coeur d’Alene is getting a new, sandy beach along the Spokane River that city officials say should be just as nice as City Beach downtown.

The 1,000 feet of public waterfront is part of a plan for a Sanders Beach-style neighborhood on the former Crown Pacific mill site between Seltice Way and the river.

When the land was recently annexed into the city limits, local developers Tom Johnson and Cliff Mort agreed to donate to the city the strip of waterfront for a public beach.

“We are in the process of thinking out loud about what we might do there,” Coeur d’Alene Parks Director Doug Eastwood said. “It’s got a lot of really good potential.”

The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission plans Monday to discuss options for developing the new beach. Eastwood said it will take a couple years before the beach is open because construction of the $100 million Mill River development that calls for homes and offices is just beginning.

Yet that’s not stopping Eastwood from dreaming. He envisions a sandy beach along the riverfront that would have day-use boat moorage so people can pull over their boats to enjoy the park and swim. He also sees a promenade, picnic shelter and perhaps a concession stand. And there would be parking.

The developers are providing the land and Lake City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, will help with the cash. Its mission is to encourage developers to invest in blighted areas. When Crown Pacific closed its Coeur d’Alene sawmill in 2001, it left a vacant waterfront parcel.

Last month LCDC agreed to spend $3.4 million to help jump-start the Mill River project. The money will provide water, sewer lines and other public infrastructure, including the beach.

Executive Director Tony Berns said about $26,000 of that money will go toward building walking and bike trails in the development, while $269,000 will help with parkland improvements such as rebuilding the shoreline and adding sand.

“It creates another public asset on a part of the world where there isn’t much left,” Berns said, referring to waterfront access.

This would be the town’s first beach on the river and Eastwood said it will compliment Coeur d’Alene’s lakefront parks – City Park, Independence Point, Jewett House and Tubbs Hill.

The beach will be about 250 feet west from where U.S. Bank plans to build a 60,000-square-foot call center in the northeast corner of the Mill River development, Eastwood said.

Johnson wasn’t available for comment Wednesday. In an interview last month with The Spokesman-Review, Johnson said the call center will provide a buffer between housing near the water and Stimson Lumber Co.’s mill to the east.

“It’s a professional office building,” Johnson said at the time. “We think it fits in perfectly with our plan to develop a neo-traditional neighborhood, where you can live, work and play.”