Hitting a roadblock
David Cole | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 6 months AGO
<p>Black Lake property owner Bob Ray discusses a document drafted in 1966 that he believes proves he and other members of the public have access to a county shoreline lot for recreation. A new gate has been built by a property owner whose lot is adjacent to the county property, cutting off public access.</p>
<p>Bob Ray talks about a gate that was built by a fellow Black Lake property owner in the middle of last month cutting off public access to block of county owned lakeshore property. Ray, a retired Vietnam War veteran, says the gate, if it stays, will change the way residents and the public have accessed the lakeshore since his family arrived in the 1960s.</p>
<p>Black Lake seen from Black Lake Road in Kootenai County.</p>
Property owned by Kootenai County with 90 feet of shoreline on Black Lake is at the center of a dispute between neighbors over public access.
A driveway leading down to the lakeside parcel has been gated off by new property owners adjacent to the county lot, and that has some residents crying foul.
Bob Ray, one of the complaining residents along Anderson Drive at the south end of Black Lake, contends the gate isn’t even on the property of those who put it up.
“When I saw them locking that gate up I just felt sick to my stomach,” said Ray, 64, a retiree and Vietnam War veteran and U.S. Marine. The gate went up last month at the lake, which is in the Chain Lakes area east of Harrison.
The new property owners, James and Kimberly Rae Cornelius, purchased the one-time Black Lake Resort property one year ago.
Kimberly Rae Cornelius said Friday that the driveway that accesses the county lot crosses her property.
“The county lot doesn’t have a driveway,” she said. The county, she said, could build stairs down to the lot for public access.
Since the 1960s, Ray said, the public has been able to drive down to the lot, park a vehicle or trailer or both, and use the property and a dock there for boating and fishing.
Ray said he explained to the Corneliuses before they purchased their property that the public has used the driveway and county lot with regularity for decades.
“They didn’t have a problem with that at all,” Ray said. “Then they started saying they want to lock it up.”
Ray’s family bought property at Black Lake in 1968, knowing there was access to the lake because of the county lot.
Past owners of the Black Lake Resort property honored easement rights to the county lot, he said.
Nick Snyder, Kootenai County’s director of Parks and Waterways, said a county surveyor is reviewing the situation, verifying property boundaries and easement rights.
“Folks have lost the ability to physically drive down to (the county lot),” Snyder said.
The public dock extending out from the county lot was removed recently because of its poor condition, Snyder said. He understands the concerns of those who used the dock and the lot.
The county surveyor will submit his findings to the county commissioners, Snyder said.
“The only access from land that the public would have is to traverse down a pretty steep embankment,” Snyder said. The public can also reach the property by boat.
“It would surprise me if the commissioners wanted to sell that property,” Snyder said.
“I am definitely one of the people who is very concerned about the gate,” said Thomas Hayes, a Wallace resident whose property also neighbors the county lot. “I don’t know how they can just block off that road.”
Hayes said he has been enjoying the county lot for 22 years, pulling his boat up there and fishing.
“All of the sudden they say we can’t,” Hayes said.
Kimberly Rae Cornelius said her family is tired of cleaning up the county lot, which she said is often littered with beer bottles.
Additionally, she said her family’s place on the lake has been vandalized multiple times.
“Our homeowners insurance just keeps going up,” Cornelius said.