Gate Blocks Priest Lake Launch Access Marina Reserves Use Of Launch For Outlet Bay Resort

A simmering dispute over a boat launch on Priest Lake has some neighbors talking about vigilante acts.

They don’t like the fact that the marina owner has placed a gate across a boat launch that their families have used for decades.

“There’s been lots of talk like ‘Let’s just go to the bar and find some big guys to take that gate out,”’ said Sherry Bennett, whose family has had a cabin in the area since the 1960s. “We’re ready for action to come to a head.”

It doesn’t appear that any formal action will happen any time soon, leaving Outlet Bay area residents launch-less for Labor Day weekend.

While the owners of Outlet Bay Resort have charged a fee to launch at the ramp for years, this year they installed a gate and now allow only resort residents or marina customers to use the launch.

Donald Stratton, the marina owner and major property holder in the Outlet Bay Homeowners Association, said the change was to control traffic and use.

“There’s no turnaround and no parking, so to get people to use the launch ramp and just use the public right of ways becomes a dangerous and unreasonable situation,” he said.

If the gate were on private property, neighbors might not complain so much.

But the gate is at the end of a county road, River Road, which runs right into the lake at the boat ramp.

The road above the high water mark is the county’s jurisdiction, and below the high water mark is the state’s.

Because Stratton installed the gate on the waterward side of the high water mark without an encroachment permit, the state Department of Lands ordered Stratton to remove the gate by Aug. 19.

Two days before the deadline, Stratton applied for a permit. To the disappointment of the neighbors, the state has backed off its demand to remove the gate.

“The department doesn’t have police powers,” explained Will Pitman, the agency’s director of navigable waters in North Idaho. “He has the right to apply for a permit after the fact.”

The comment period on Stratton’s application started Wednesday, and already 51 residents have signed a petition opposing it.

“He’s made an illegal taking of public property and completely blocked access,” said resident Ken Eldore. Eldore and other residents said they don’t mind paying a reasonable fee to use the launch, they just want the option to use it.

“We used it with the previous owner,” said Vern Melvin. “Sometimes we paid a fee, sometimes we didn’t. I don’t think people object to a fee.”

Stratton said that those who used the boat ramp without paying were trespassing. He claims his submerged land lease and encroachment permits with the state give him control over the launch.

Moreover, he said, the launch was built with private funds in 1961 by Richard and Oliver Barnes, previous resort owners.

“It’s never been a public launch ramp,” he said.

County research found that the ramp was built prior to 1960 by private owners of nearby parcels. In a 1996 letter to an attorney representing area residents, county officials explained that it was built adjacent to county property - the county road - which makes the ramp county property.

Pitman said if the road is deeded county property, and not an easement across other property, that means the county holds the riparian rights.

That could adversely affect Stratton’s attempt to get an encroachment permit for the gate.

Yet, while it appears that the county may have riparian rights, the commissioners seem content to allow Stratton to control public access on the ramp, and have made that clear in letters to him.

That doesn’t sit well with the neighbors.

“We believe we also have rights to it,” Bennett said. “It’s frustrating law-abiding citizens have to fight to get the state to take action.”

, DataTimes