Big clash over Sanders has yet to surface

Sanders Beach has found relative peace this summer even though the popular shoreline’s fate remains in limbo.

Coeur d’Alene police and local attorneys said there have been few confrontations among the homeowners and the public that comes to swim and sunbathe.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” said Lt. Don Ashenbrenner. “But I’m not aware of any real problem. It’s been real calm.”

The city had hoped to build some type of physical barrier to show the invisible line where private property ends and public land begins after a district court judge declared that mark at 2,130 feet above sea level. The Idaho Supreme Court still needs to make a final decision and has a hearing scheduled for month’s end.

But right before the busy July Fourth weekend, the city found it needed an encroachment permit from the Idaho Department of Lands. The public has until Aug. 14 to comment on the city’s application. So far nobody has commented and the homeowners have not objected to the city pounding stakes every 150 feet to designate the court-declared high-water mark. The 2,130-foot mark isn’t obvious. Only one seawall is at that elevation, while the locations of others vary.

Until the permit is granted, the beach is naked. City officials and attorneys for the property owners initially worried that could cause problems this summer. In the past, when the boundary was unknown, there were heated confrontations.

“Nobody has talked to me about a problem,” said Scott Reed, who represents advocates for public access to the beach between 12th and 15th streets.

The Police Department released two incident reports this week in response to a public records request for July reports.

In a July 7 report, a 14-year-old boy alleges that he was hit in the face with a BB pellet while sitting on a Sanders Beach seawall about 10 p.m.

The report blacks out the juvenile’s name but states he “thinks it’s one of the home owners who lives near the water. He feels they are upset because they think they own the beach, and this is how they are going to keep the kids away.”

Sgt. Christie Wood said there are no suspects.

“It seems to me it’s kind of speculation from the victim,” Wood said. “There just isn’t evidence to go off.”

The other report is for a July 15 noise complaint by homeowner Nona Barclay. The police arrested a 20-year-old Coeur d’Alene resident for underage drinking.

Attorney John Magnuson, who represents the majority of homeowners, said his clients have reported a few other incidents, including teenagers allegedly stealing homeowner Jerry Frank’s firewood, using it to build a fire on the 15th Street beach entry.

Another homeowner alleged that she was verbally assaulted by a carload of teenagers after she found them dumping garbage in her garden.

In a July 12 letter to the city, Magnuson writes, “City Police didn’t do much of anything to keep the public off private property.”

Attorney Mike Haman, who represents the city, said the police have been patrolling the area but won’t give the Sanders Beach homeowners “special treatment.”

“The officers can only do what they can go given the circumstances,” Haman said. “If they are responding to bomb threats and burglaries, they aren’t going to stop that to go to a report of beer on the beach.”