Hearing tonight on dock proposal

The Idaho Department of Lands is having a public hearing tonight on a request for a 22-slip community dock on the east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene near Gotham Bay.

The private dock is part of the 46-lot Gotham Bay Estates, across state Highway 97 on 165 acres that overlooks the lake. The homeowners all could use the proposed beach area but only some would pay to have boat slips.

The proposal also includes a parking area with 25 spaces.

Neighbors oppose the community dock and parking lot, fearing it will cause even more congestion and danger on Highway 97 in addition to increasing crowding on the lake near Camp Easton, which is owned by the Boy Scouts of America.

Jim Norconk, whose home will overlook the marina, paid $75 for the state department to have the public hearing. He argues none of the government agencies involved are communicating, causing chaos with development around the lake. He said he thinks the state Transportation Department, Kootenai County and other agencies all need more input.

The dock and parking lot proposal are separate from the housing development that the county approved last year.

“Here we are in a rural area and someone is putting up a huge parking lot next to my house,” Norconk said Tuesday.

Attorney Jim Magnuson, who represents Big Rock Timber and Development, said the company is working with the neighbors and Camp Easton to alleviate potential problems. Magnuson said the Boy Scouts are supportive and even have an agreement to use the Gotham Bay Estates dock for swim races and other activities.

He said that Highway 97 has always been a problem for any development on the east side of the lake. As part of the subdivision, the company will improve the Gotham Bay Road intersection, Magnuson said.

Homeowners will have to walk across Highway 97 to get from the parking lot to the waterfront. Magnuson said the intersection improvements will increase safety; he anticipates a marked crosswalk.

When the county approved Gotham Bay Estates, commissioners questioned how long they could continue approving plans for lake homes and ritzy golf retreats. Traffic is expected to triple – perhaps to 8,000 cars a day vying for the pavement, according to the regional traffic group.

Neighborhood groups also are surfacing to oppose most proposals around the lake.

Magnuson said that a few years ago the dock request probably would have gone unnoticed.

Norconk, who moved to the area a year ago, said residents are organized and vocal. He and about 100 other neighbors attended a Kootenai County Planning Commission town hall meeting Monday at Camp Easton. The commission plans to visit eight areas of the county, including a stop tonight at 7 in the Hayden area at 21894 E. Hayden Lake Road. It’s part of the county’s yearlong process of rewriting the comprehensive plan, which is the foundation of all land-use decisions.

Norconk said he made his concerns clear to the commission. “They are operating in chaos,” he said.