OK sought from state for dock on beach

A Sanders Beach homeowner is asking state permission to build a dock along the popular shore, a proposal that Coeur d’Alene officials and public-use advocates adamantly oppose.

The Idaho Department of Lands will decide Tuesday whether to allow Jerry Frank to construct a 6-foot-by-20-foot redwood dock that would extend 22 feet into the lake. Frank’s property is next door to the city’s beach in front of the Jewett House, which is accessed off 15th Street.

In his encroachment permit application dated Nov. 17, Frank states that the dock is strictly for kayaks and rowboats, not powerboats.

Frank refused to comment Friday.

City Attorney Mike Gridley said that Frank failed to notify the city of the permit application. The city received official notice from the Lands Department Jan. 4, which didn’t give it adequate time to respond or request a public hearing. By law, the department must make a decision on the permit application within 60 days, which is Tuesday.

Carl Washburn of the Lands Department said that the burden is on Frank to notify the adjacent property owners and that the state only does notification as a courtesy.

Frank’s application notes that both the city and Michael Mackin are the adjoining property owners. Mackin signed a consent form stating he had no objection to the dock or encroachment permit.

Gridley said Coeur d’Alene will take the issue to court because the city’s and the public’s due process rights were ignored.

“We would have requested a public hearing because of the public use of that beach,” Gridley said.

The city also objects to the dock application because it considers the water in front of Frank’s home a public swimming area. City law currently restricts watercraft within 200 feet of the shoreline between Jewett House on 15th Street and 12th Street, where there is another city beach.

The Lands Department issued Coeur d’Alene an encroachment permit in 1982, allowing the city to create a restricted swimming zone designated in the summer months by buoys.

Gridley argues a dock would interfere with the public’s ability to swim in public water, and it would create a safety hazard. He added that if all the Sanders Beach homeowners were allowed to build docks, the public could no longer use the water.

The Idaho Supreme Court unanimously ruled in September that the invisible line where private property ends and public land begins along the popular shoreline is not higher than the summer level of the lake, or 2,128 feet elevation.

That essentially eliminated all public access to the beach that has been used by swimmers and sunbathers for a century. The public still has access to city-owned portions that flank the beach. And the public still has access to the water in the summer, just not the sand in front of the homes.

Attorney John Magnuson, who represented Frank in the high-water mark case, said he’s not surprised that a homeowner decided to apply for a dock after the Supreme Court ruling.

Magnuson argues that there isn’t an official public swimming area in front of Frank’s property or along Sanders Beach and the state should allow docks.

This isn’t the first time Sanders Beach property owners have wanted to build docks.

In 1998, three couples applied to build private boat docks. The Lands Department returned the applications, telling the landowners that the permits would not be issued until a similar request at nearby City Beach was resolved.

Don Dupont, who owned property along West Lakeshore Drive, previously had applied to build a boat dock off City Beach. His neighbor, Donald Beck, also applied for a dock.

The Land Board ruled against Dupont’s plan to build a private dock in the middle of an official city-designated swimming area.

He appealed, but after eight years of battle the plan died. In 2000, the Supreme Court upheld the Land Board’s authority to revoke Dupont’s permit for a boat dock off City Beach.

Beck, too, wanted to build a dock on City Beach, which has had a designated swimming area since the 1950s. Beck also sued the city of Coeur d’Alene and the Lands Department.

Beck’s suit was joined later by Beatrice Almgren and Jack and Virginia Simpson, who wanted to build docks on Sanders Beach. The Supreme Court ruled that the state rightly returned their applications for docks.

Attorney Scott Reed, who represented Coeur d’Alene in the previous dock case, currently represents the Sanders Beach Preservation Association, which advocates for public use.

He said a dock would inhibit public use. Or, he said, it may bring more grief for Frank, who is known for confronting people about using the beach in front of his home.

“I can just see all the teenage girls bathing out there and the teenage boys jumping off (the dock) and everyone having a great time,” Reed said, adding that the police likely couldn’t charge people with trespassing if they accessed Frank’s dock from the water, because the dock would float upon public water.