It’s about time someone picked up the gauntlet thrown down by the current crop of Sanders Beach “owners.”

For the first time in years, the public, represented by the Sanders Beach Preservation Association, has focused on the key issue of the annual struggle for this important beach on Coeur d’Alene’s waterfront: the high-water mark. Everything above that imaginary line belongs to owners of the stately homes lining East Lakeshore Drive, some of whom are aggressively shooing neighborhood families from traditional beach access. Everything below the mark belongs to the state – therefore, the public.

After years of skirmishes among the city, public and East Lakeshore Drive owners, it seems ridiculous that no one has determined where the high-water mark falls. The dug-in homeowners offer deeds and tax receipts to claim the beach is theirs. Residents say historic use gives them right of access. A documented high-water mark would prove who’s right.

Earlier this week, the Sanders Beach Preservation Association asked the city, the county and the Idaho Land Board to establish, once and for all, the location of the ordinary high-water mark. The request shouldn’t be ignored, particularly by the city. If the city is going to “work its heart out” to gain access to Sanders Beach, as Mayor Sandi Bloem promised this spring, it should know where private property ends.

At this point, city officials are wrong in deferring to homeowners’ claims that their property stops at the shoreline. The officials have nothing to lose by leading the charge to discover where the high-water mark is. And everything to gain. If the mark is halfway up the beach, for example, the public would have guaranteed access to enough sand to please everyone but the homeowners glowering from behind their seawalls. Such a delineation would strengthen the city’s hand in dealing with the stubborn owners for access to the rest of the beach.

The public has lost nothing if the high-water mark falls at the current lip of the lake. Unlike their predecessors, the new breed of East Lakeshore Drive homeowners are posting private property signs on the beachfront and running people off. The growing confrontations offer a formula for disaster, or personal injury lawsuit, unless a referee steps in.

In April, the City Council passed up an opportunity to require Hagadone Hospitality to grant perpetual access to its 500 feet of Sanders Beach in exchange for city annexation and sewer. At the time, Mayor Bloem said she was working behind the scenes to provide more access. Nothing has happened since. Now, she has another chance to fulfill that promise.