Parks Office Vies For Lake Land Transportation Board Had Been Looking Into Trading Parcels To Hagadone Corp.

The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation wants a piece of state land that had appeared likely to go to the Hagadone Corp.

Parks and Recreation officials met with the Idaho Department of Transportation about a week ago to ask about obtaining property along Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive.

They are asking the Idaho Transportation Department to keep title to the land and allow Parks and Recreation to manage it - the same arrangement that is used for the stretch of the Centennial Trail that parallels the road.

Last month, the Transportation Department Board ordered its local office to get rid of two parcels of land near the Coeur d’Alene Resort’s Golf Course. The board told the North Idaho office to investigate trading the parcels with the Hagadone Corp., which owns the golf course.

But one of the parcels, a 19,000-square-foot chunk near the Potlatch Hill overpass, is quite attractive to trail users because of its proximity to the Rutledge Trailhead Parking Lot on the Centennial Trail, Parks and Recreation says.

“That works real well as a buffer zone to any development that would happen on the adjacent private land,” said Randall Butt, who manages the Coeur d’Alene Parkway and Centennial Trail for state Parks and Recreation.

Allowing the state parks department to manage the ground, “reduces conflict between the private owner and our users,” Butt said.

The land also could be used as a viewing area for Lake Coeur d’Alene or as a picnic area, he said.

The other piece of ground is between Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive and the golf course. While the Parks and Recreation Department isn’t specifically interested in having it, there is some concern that if it passes to private hands, it means more traffic crossing the Centennial Trail to reach that parcel, Butts said.

The Transportation Board already has sold Hagadone an easement across that ground for $9,600.

Despite negotiations with Hagadone, Parks and Recreation management of the land isn’t out of the question, said Barbara Babic, a transportation department spokeswoman.

In order for a trade to happen with Hagadone, the company has to be able to offer land it already owns and that land must benefit a future highway project, Babic said. And the board’s suggestion of a trade, “doesn’t preclude other options.”

“Our people are looking at it very carefully,” Babic said.

A decision isn’t expected for at least two months. The transportation board has the final word.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: LAND IN QUESTION The Transportation Department Board has ordered its local office to get rid of two parcels of land near the Coeur d’Alene Resort’s Golf Course: A 19,000-square-foot parcel near the Potlatch Hill overpass. A piece of ground between Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive and the golf course.