City May Put Pinch On Boaters Parking Tickets May Get Much More Expensive

For years, illegal parking has been the inexpensive way to anchor a truck and boat trailer in downtown Coeur d’Alene on a summer day.

People pull into town and drop their boats in Lake Coeur d’Alene. If the city parking lot on Third Street is full, they leave their trucks and boat trailers at the curb in one of downtown Coeur d’Alene’s two-hour parking zones.

At most, they could expect a $10 ticket if they were parked more than two hours. That’s cheap parking for a day of boating.

But it’s been a headache for downtown merchants, who prefer the parking spaces be open for shoppers.

Tonight, the Coeur d’Alene City Council may vote to make overtime parking more punitive. The council is considering allowing the parking patrol to ticket both the vehicle and the trailer once every two hours. That’s $60 in fines for an eight-hour day.

On another matter, the council will consider paying KC Construction $8,100 for emergency repairs on March 19 to the storm sewer line near the U.S. Highway 95 bridge over the Spokane River.

City officials suspect the line separated when the concrete foundation for the Harbor Center sea wall was poured atop the line.

Over time, the storm sewer line leaked, washing away the soil under the line. After the collapse, KC Construction pulled the line back together and re-compacted the soil underneath.

More sophisticated repairs will be necessary when the water level recedes, said John Daley, project engineer.

In other business, the council is expected to grant a four-year lease to Coeur d’Alene Cruises for six bays at the city dock.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: What’s next? The Coeur d’Alene City Council will meet at 7 p.m. today at City Hall.