Public-private boundary set for Sanders Beach

Sunbathers and swimmers wanting to use Coeur d’Alene’s popular Sanders Beach lost several feet of sand Tuesday when a 1st District judge ruled that the public only has access below 2,130 feet above sea level.

That means Coeur d’Alene must get a survey and figure out how to mark the invisible line in the sand, showing the “ordinary high-water mark,” or the place where private property ends and public land begins.

But first, the city plans to ask the court not to enforce the 2,130-foot ruling, which is 2 feet higher than the lake’s summer water level, until the Idaho Supreme Court makes a final decision. The high court has scheduled an August hearing.

Attorney Mike Haman, who represents the city, said he planned to file the paperwork Tuesday afternoon and ask for an expedited hearing so the city can get an answer within the next two weeks.

“Hopefully the weather remains poor,” said Haman, after retired Judge James Judd denied the city’s request to keep in place a temporary injunction that was issued last summer.

The injunction declared anything below the Sanders Beach seawalls as open to the public, enabling the beach to be regularly patrolled by city police and maintained by park workers. There was hardly an incident last summer between the public and the homeowners, which Haman credited to the preliminary injunction.

Haman, along with the Sanders Beach Preservation Association, argued that the seawalls are the most practical way to keep the peace between the public and property owners along East Lakeshore Drive. The seawalls make it easy for police to enforce trespass and other laws, such as keeping dogs on leashes and no swimming after dark.

The 2,130-foot mark isn’t as clear. Only one seawall is at that elevation, while the locations of others vary. That’s why the city may have to erect some type of physical barrier.

Attorney John Magnuson, who represents the majority of the homeowners between 12th and 15th streets, argued that the judge already ruled in September that the high-water mark is 2,130 feet. The preliminary injunction expired at that time, Magnuson argued.

“It’s a desperate move,” Magnuson said, adding that convenience is no reason to deny homeowners their private property rights.

Judd said that his September ruling establishing the mark at 2,130 feet is law, at least until the Idaho Supreme Court makes another determination. He suggested that the city pursue the motion not to allow the 2,130-foot ruling to take effect until after the high court makes a decision. He said he recognized that the summer season has begun and that a decision is needed within a few weeks.

Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County filed the lawsuit in 2004 asking a judge to determine the legal high-water mark at Sanders Beach. No court had ever made the exact determination where that is, causing annual disputes between homeowners and people using the popular beach.