SANDPOINT - Bonner County commissioners are moving ahead with a project to improve public access at Priest Lake.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to seek $38,000 in grant funding from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation to pave a parking area at an existing launch site at Coolin.

The launch site is on Bayview Road, just north of the county's only other free public launch site on Priest Lake. The southern launch site is extremely busy during summer and the northern launch functions as a secondary ramp and parking area.

But the plan to improve the northern launch is drawing strong opposition from neighboring landowners, one of whom is a member of the county's Waterways Advisory Board.

They contend the north facility is a blight on their waterfront neighborhood. Their list of complaints include illegally parked vehicles and boats, litter and noise. Launch users are also accused of relieving themselves at the site and adjacent properties, using the ramp and dock as a swim area and other nuisance behavior such as partying.

Opponents of the northern launch are urging the county to sell or trade the property so an upland overflow parking area can be established to ease pressure on the southern launch.

However, the proposed improvements are being cheered by other residents and landowners because of the limited amount of free launch sites on Priest Lake.

"There's not a lot of free public access at Priest Lake. This is one of two (places)," Commissioner Mike Nielsen said.

Seventeen letters of support for the project were submitted along with the IDPR grant application.

But the proposal has recently ignited the ire of Chuck Bauer, a landowner to the south who holds a seat on the Waterways Advisory Board.

Bauer accuses the county of deliberately keeping neighboring residents in the dark and trying to sneak the project in under the radar.

"Bonner county (sic) has a history of this type of action taking place during the winter months when stakeholders are not present," Bauer said in an email received by the county on Thursday.

Bauer's accusations are curious given he is a long-standing member of a board which annually makes recommendations on IDPR grant applications as a matter of routine. Moreover, the grant application deadlines are set by the state, not by the county.

Bauer abstained from voting when the Waterways Advisory Board considered the grant application.

Commissioners appeared to be caught off guard by Bauer's sudden opposition and said on Tuesday that he voiced no opposition when the advisory board discussed the grant application late last year.

County officials expect to learn in May if they will receive the grant. If the county is awarded funding, commissioners plan to hold a public meeting to address the concerns of neighboring landowners.