Developers Redo Plans For Marina But Neighbor, County Planners Raise Questions About Safety, Zoning At Arrow Point Facility

If new plans go through, boaters would motor in and out through a widened entrance at Arrow Point’s marina.

But Kootenai County planners and at least one neighbor are raising separate concerns about the marina’s future.

Developers say they want to move the marina’s opening 150 feet from the shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene, doubling the existing distance, according to an application filed May 30 with the Idaho Department of Lands.

Arrow Point Development Co. Inc. also says it plans to widen the 58-foot opening by 10 feet.

The changes address safety concerns voiced by nearby landowners, a deputy Idaho attorney general and the director of the Idaho Department of Lands.

All say the existing opening funnels boat traffic toward the shoreline, increasing the risk of collisions and putting boats too close to swimmers.

Developers say their plans would allay concerns voiced during a state hearing when the marina’s permit was revoked last December. The concerns were repeated in a letter from Lands Department director Stan Hamilton in the spring.

“It is my understanding that this proposed configuration meets or exceeds all state codes and statutes for waterways,” developer Roger Stewart wrote Will Pitman, the Lands Department’s lead official on the marina issue.

But the new marina entrance still wouldn’t relieve boat congestion, claimed Patrick Stroud.

Stroud, who owns property and a dock just north of the marina, triggered the additional state review of the marina last year after Pitman had approved the permit in April 1999.

Nearby landowners believe any entry on the marina’s north side is a safety hazard and that the proposed 68-foot opening still is not wide enough, Stroud said.

“Surely this can’t be taken seriously,” he said.

Kootenai County planners also say there is a problem with at least part of the marina, and they may have concerns about the entire facility.

“We certainly are going to be reviewing it for our concerns with compliance,” said Rand Wichman, the county’s senior planner.

The marina application is in two parts. One, from Arrow Point Bar & Grill, requests approval of existing docks that serve the restaurant. The other, from Arrow Point Development Co. Inc., requests the new opening for the 82-slip marina.

Kootenai County has not officially reviewed the developers’ request.

But planners say the bar and grill application appears to run afoul of county zoning laws.

The restaurant is legal - it was built before the county adopted zoning laws in 1973 - but it doesn’t match the site’s zoning, which is restricted residential.

Adding a dock to the site would not be legal, Wichman said. This application “without question” ties the dock to the bar and grill, he said.

“That’s where we have a problem.”

But Wichman also said the state doesn’t always take county comments into account.

“The county recognizes you may ultimately issue this dock permit regardless of the county’s concerns,” Wichman wrote Pitman in a June 9 letter.

Pitman said this week he has not reviewed the county’s comments.

He said he doesn’t know when the state will make a decision on the marina.

Arrow Point Development’s application is in his agency’s Boise office for review by assistant director Jay Biladeau, who was out of the office this week, Pitman said.

“I’m just waiting for somebody to say, `Proceed,”’ he said.