COEUR d'ALENE - It's anagreement that could put an end toongoing litigation between property owners and the city regarding beachfront property rights.

It would also allow property owners at Sanders Beach to build a fence between their private properties and abutting public beaches.

Those fence lines would run perpendicular to the beach shore at 12th and 15th streets on E. Lakeshore Drive, and allow owners to separate their beaches from public ones with up to 6-foot-tall fences.

In the agreement, several pending lawsuits between homeowners and the city would be dropped, should the Coeur d'Alene City Council approve it in two weeks.

"We're trying to work out a settlement so litigation goes away," said Warren Wilson, deputy city attorney, who crafted the amendment to the city's shoreline ordinance specifically for the Sanders Beach neighborhood. "The idea is to wrap all of this up with something everyone can agree upon."

The city's shoreline ordinance doesn't allow property owners to build 40 feet inland from the shoreline, marked at the 2,128 foot elevation level.

The amendment would make the exception specifically for the Sanders Beach neighborhood, which has battled with the city in the courtroom over private property vs. public beach rights for roughly four decades.

"I don't think it's a perfect solution, but it's an agreement and there hasn't been an agreement before," said Jerry Frank, who lives at the beach near 15th Street and the adjacent public Jewett House. "There's been a fight."

Frank said he was uncertain whether he would build a fence should the agreement be approved.

The public accessing private properties, homeowners installing temporary fences and homeowners petitioning for dock permits next to public swimming areas have also been issues between the sides.

Attorney John F Magnuson, representing the homeowners, said there were five suits that could be settled, but declined to comment on the agreement specifically.

"I'm happy we might have the ability to do that should it go through," said Richard Barclay, who lives near 12th Street and the public beach. "I think it's just about over, a lot of litigation would go away."

The agreement would affect east and west ends of the street where public beaches abut private properties. Barclay said he was unsure as well whether he would build a fence should the agreement go through. He now has shrubs to separate the lands and said that people generally stay off his property, and it wouldn't affect the popular Polar Bear Plunge every New Year's Day where hundreds come to the area to jump in the lake.

The agreement passed the planning commission in September. A public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19 in the Community Room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.