Change in law needed for marina

Hagadone Hospitality must get Idaho law changed before it can build a private marina on the east shore of The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.

The company wants to build a 30-slip marina as part of its plan for a luxury apartment complex tiered into the side of Potlatch Hill, just above the 13th tee. Each tenant would get a covered 14-by-32-foot boat slip.

But because Hagadone Hospitality would own the apartment building, not the individual tenants, Idaho law prohibits a private marina. The state only grants marina permits for community marinas, where the waterfront is owned by a homeowners association or more than two individuals, or commercial marinas, said Carl Washburn of the Idaho Department of Land. The state also grants permits for a single dock to homeowners or an individual corporation.

Roger Jansson, the department’s North Idaho operations chief, said there is apparently a gap in the state rules.

“It is probably something that does need to be addressed,” Jansson said.

Hagadone representative John Barlow withdrew the company’s permit application Monday. In a letter to the department, Barlow wrote that the withdrawal would give the “Land Board time to address this use in the rules.”

Barlow didn’t return phone calls Thursday. Department Director Winston Wiggens, who is a member of the state Land Board, wasn’t available for comment Thursday.

Jansson said he doesn’t think Hagadone representatives have contacted the Land Board about the problem yet.

Both the Land Board and the Idaho Legislature would have to approve any changes in the state rules or law, Jansson said.

“It’s a pretty extensive process,” he said.

The department got several public comments on the permit request before Hagadone withdrew the application.

The Kootenai County Commission had asked the state to have a public hearing on the request because the dock would take up public waters. Commission Chairman Dick Panabaker wrote a letter to the department stating that the commission “wants to ensure that the public has the opportunity to review the project in greater detail and comment on it before it is permitted.”

Beverly Hannon of Post Falls wrote a letter asking the department to deny the request.

“Protect our shoreline and water quality,” Hannon wrote.

Dick and Shirlee Wandrocke of Coeur d’Alene favor the marina, and wrote it makes sense with the current rebound in tourism and the influx of new people in the area.

“It certainly has been our experience that the Hagadone group addresses, with care, the lake’s quality, the shoreline stability, and infrastructure and traffic concerns,” the Wandrockes wrote in a letter to the department.

The Kootenai County Parks and Waterways Committee discussed the 30-slip marina in May but took no action, which means the committee had no opposition to the proposal.

Committee Chairman Jim Aucutt said a couple of members had concerns about taking more public access away from residents for a private, commercial business. A motion to oppose the marina failed.

In a separate application, Hagadone also is asking the state for a permit to extend the existing wood sea wall 500 feet to the golf course’s east property line. The application states that the sea wall extension would allow Hagadone to build the apartment complex on the site and to protect the landscaping and the lake during construction. That application is still working through the state’s approval process. Washburn said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also is reviewing the project.

The proposed marina would look similar to Hagadone’s other marinas on the lake, just smaller.

The luxury apartment building is expected to be the first constructed in Hagadone’s five-phase plan to put apartments and townhouses along Lake Coeur d’Alene in addition to a new hotel on the golf course.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council voted in March to annex 273 acres of Hagadone’s property – including the golf course and Silver Beach Marina – into the city limits so the waterfront developments could use city sewer and water systems.

The permit application states that the marina construction would have begun in the spring of 2005.

In a January interview with The Spokesman-Review, Duane Hagadone said he would market the apartments by Memorial Day and construction would begin as soon as enough customers committed to lease units.

Conceptual plans for the marina and luxury apartments submitted to the city in January state that the apartments will be in a gated community with access off Potlatch Hill Road. The apartments will have views of the golf course and lake and will look architecturally similar to Hagadone’s other properties with light colors and sloping copper roofs.

Hagadone said demand will determine how fast the five-phase development, estimated to be worth between $50 million and $75 million, will be completed. And he was unsure in what order the other projects, including the hotel, would be built.