Bayview group confronts changing times

Nestled between Lake Pend Oreille and the Farragut State Park about 20 miles northeast of Coeur d’Alene, the community of Bayview doesn’t have much room to grow. Steep hills and state-protected land surround the tiny community, making it essentially landlocked.

But some residents say that hasn’t stopped things from changing, as they have in so many other North Idaho communities. Rumors of pending development fly, and more people are moving to the area.

These new arrivals are bringing a thirst for cultural activities to this unincorporated community of less than 300 year-round residents

Enter the Bayview Community Council, a new group hoping to become a voice for the people who live here.

“As an individual, you don’t have a lot of authority,” said Bayview resident Dorothy “Zak” Zakrajsek, the council’s interim chairwoman. “But if you’re representing an organization … it only stands to reason that you’re going to have a lot more clout.”

Because it’s not a city, Bayview’s governance comes entirely through Kootenai County. The Bayview Chamber of Commerce is the go-to organization for community input, but it’s there to serve businesses, Zakrajsek said.

“Individuals don’t have a lot of say, in one sense,” she said.

Though there’s no room for the community to expand, a surge in development within the town has raised concern, Zakrajsek said. Developer Bob Holland recently bought three marinas and is looking to develop houses – or dock-o-miniums – there. Houses are being built on what once were empty lots.

“That’s a lot of activity for one town,” said Tom Lloyd, who moved to Bayview from Vermont last year and serves as the council’s interim vice chairman.

Linda Hackbarth, Zakrajsek and other members of the council met with Holland on Wednesday to try to sort out rumor from facts. Holland agreed to attend the council’s Aug. 29 meeting.

“We were kind of a sleepy town, and we remained sort of status quo,” said Zakrajsek, who’s owned property in Bayview for 28 years and has lived there for 11. “Then, all of a sudden, in the last two, two and a half years, change has been dumped on us. … It was all of a sudden, all at once.”

But Bayview resident Lorraine Landwehr said change in the community has been exaggerated. “Nothing is as bad as they think it is,” she said.

Landwehr and her husband, Doug, the past president of the Chamber of Commerce here, are real estate agents in Bayview. Emphasizing that the community can’t grow because of its geographic restrictions, Lorraine Landwehr said many residents don’t understand how the county governance system works.

“We have all these county rules in place, and they’re pretty darn strict,” she said. “We have people creating issues that never were issues.”

She said construction on vacant lots should be expected. She said she also believes the council will help inform residents about how the governing system works, but she suspects it will die out once people realize a system is already in place.

Council organizers are quick to say their efforts are not in response to any particular development. They say they simply want to provide a voice for citizens and generate community activities.

Zakrajsek and other organizers surveyed residents last winter about the future of Bayview.

“A number of people were concerned that we were destined to become a party town,” Zakrajsek said. “People were interested in speakers, educational and social activities.”

With a community council, it’ll be easier to attract those types of activities without having to rely on county organizations, said Bob Moore, the council’s interim treasurer and a Bayview resident since 2000.

Kootenai County Commissioner Rick Currie said the community council will be a welcome voice in county government, but it won’t have the clout that elected bodies do.

“They are an organization that we listen to, but it is an organization,” he said. “It’s not an elected body; it’s not like a city council.”

The formation of the council should in no way be taken as a sign that incorporation is pending, Moore said.

Incorporation is a costly and complicated issue that the tiny community isn’t ready to address, he said.

“It isn’t appropriate at this time for us to do it,” Moore said.

Zakrajsek will serve as interim chair of the council until next June, when the group plans to hold officer elections. An ice cream social is planned for July 23 to let citizens learn more about the council, followed by the council’s first membership meeting July 25 to vote on the council’s mission and membership requirements.

Zakrajsek and the other interim council officers are proposing that anyone 18 and older living within a six-mile radius of the post office be allowed in and given voting rights.