SANDPOINT - An Idaho Department of Lands hearing examiner is recommending approval of a plan to create an exclusive marina on Lake Pend Oreille at Trestle Creek.

The 124-slip marina would replace an aging RV park that was open to the public, even though it was on private property. The marina would be restricted to associates of the Idaho Club, which is developing a 109-unit condominium project at Trestle Creek.

Eric Wilson, an IDL hearing coordinator, found that the members-only nature of the marina constituted a loss of public access.

"The project does, however, meet the requirements for a community dock," Wilson said in his Sept. 19 recommendation to IDL Director George Bacon.

The marina would serve two upland parcels, with 105 slips at the northern parcel and 19 slips at the southern one. The marina will cover 20,158 square feet.

Pend Oreille Bonner Development, with input from Idaho Fish & Game and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, developed a plan to mitigate potential impacts to Trestle Creek, which is regarded one of the most important bull trout spawning habitats on the continent.

The developers tightened the profile of the original marina plan and intend to realign the north branch of the creek to its historic alignment to ease fish passage.

The existing boat basins will be dredged to a more uniform depth, which will benefit cold-water fish species and expand the surface of the lake there.

The plan no longer contains a float plane dock, but such aircraft will not be barred from accessing the lake at Trestle Creek. Developers have said they have created a takeoff and landing scheme which limits noise disturbances.

Some contend the noise-mitigation plan has been effective, while other maintain it has not.