Hagadone sets float houses adrift

Kootenai County is scrambling to find a new home for its sheriff, fire and waterways boats because Hagadone Hospitality is no longer allowing float houses on Blackwell Island.

And the alternatives are few.

The county needs to keep the boats on the north end of Lake Coeur d’Alene so response times to emergency calls remain short. The sheriff and fireboats respond to dozens of calls each year for such emergencies as fires on Tubbs Hills, sinking boats or water-ski accidents.

The majority of the north shoreline is privately owned, and three of the largest marinas are run by Hagadone.

“It’s real difficult,” Kootenai County Commission Chairman Dick Panabaker said. “We’re in a bit of a bind.”

The county has three floating boathouses and leases the water space from the Marina Yacht Club, which Hagadone bought in January. The metal garagelike structures house eight boats that are used by the sheriff and waterways departments and Kootenai County Fire and Rescue.

The county can move the float houses but finding a new location is proving difficult.

The commission said it has looked at the county-owned Boothe’s Landing, two spots along the mouth of the Spokane River and is talking with the new owner of Foss Maritime’s Coeur d’Alene operations.

Foss Maritime, which is just west of the Marina Yacht Club, is the most ideal alternative because it has the best access to the lake and most consistent water levels, Waterways Director Kurtis Robinson said. The tugboat company was recently purchased by Spokane developer John Stone, who is currently building the Riverstone development along the river (See story on Page A8).

Boothe’s Landing, off Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive, is a problem because it’s farther from downtown Coeur d’Alene and gets the worst storms. The two locations along the river, including the shoreline by Harbor Center, aren’t ideal either because of shallow water in the winter, runoff in the spring, river current and large amounts of debris, Robinson said. Harbor Center, which is currently used by the University of Idaho Coeur d’Alene, at one time had a 114-slip marina.

“If anyone out there has any ideas, we are open to suggestions,” Commissioner Gus Johnson said. “I think it would be a real asset for a marina to have fire and sheriff boats there. It’s more of an asset than a hindrance.”

But Hagadone doesn’t see float houses as part of the new vision for the Yacht Club Marina, according to an Aug. 4 letter to float house owners. Hagadone wants to overhaul the marina, expanding it to about 530 slips over the next four years and making the Blackwell Island channel deeper and wider to allow for larger boats.

Hagadone applied for permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Idaho Department of Lands in September to dredge the channel.

Hagadone Hospitality has asked the owners of all float houses, not just the county’s, to leave Blackwell Island by Sept. 15.

Owner Duane Hagadone and his representatives weren’t available for comment Tuesday but the Aug. 4 letter to float house owners said that the “decision has been made that the future Yacht Club Marina design will no longer include float houses.”

“We hope that by informing you of our decision now, it will allow you ample time to plan alternatives for the future of your float house,” read the letter signed by Craig Brosenne, the corporation’s general manager for the marina division.

When Hagadone initially bought the marina property, manager John Barlow wrote the county and other yacht club tenants saying that the sale didn’t have any affect on the “term or substance of the existing leases.”

The commission said it wants to find a new location by spring, before the number of lake and river emergency calls increase. The move could become a large expense if the county has to build a breakwater or set pilings.

Whereever the county goes, it will need to get permits from the Idaho Department of Lands, and that takes time.

Sheriff Sgt. Matt Street said it’s unfortunate the county must move.

“Ideally where we are at is just a perfect spot,” Street said Tuesday while locking up the sheriff’s boat-house. “This is where we have the best response time to a variety of calls.”