After a two-hour public comment period earlier this week, the Kootenai County commissioners opted to maintain the 150-foot no excessive wake rule on Fernan and Lower Twin lakes in a 2-1 decision Tuesday afternoon.

Commissioners did not take action on whether to maintain or repeal the 150-foot ordinance on the Spokane River. However, the rule will be discussed in-depth at an upcoming commissioner status update meeting. 

Parks and Waterways Resolution 2020-38, passed by commissioners last May, established the 150-foot no excessive wake restriction on the three waterways. The rule also created a written definition for an excessive wake, which in the past, Kootenai County Sheriff Marine Division deputies said was too vague to enforce. 

However, after a year of mixed feedback, Commissioner Chris Fillios said the board decided to review the ordinance's effectiveness. Leading to another 2-1 vote, Commissioner Leslie Duncan dissenting, that decision struck the rule as written, sending it back for amendments.

"Since then, we made a change in removing verbiage that had to do with a vessel in transition, realizing that just about every vessel in transition will generate a larger wake," Fillios said Tuesday. "We also made an effort not to target a particular activity or a particular vessel type." 

With the ordinance removed, excessive wakes would be prohibited on the entire area of those three waterways, which sent many residents into a fear that sports like water skiing or boating would be unnecessarily restricted. 

"We can fix this without going to an overreaching decision of making a lake a no-wake zone," Dave Shaber, a Lower Twin Lakes representative, said. "The 150-foot rule is working, and I'm here to request that the Lower Twin Lakes not be thrown into this with the other bodies of water."

Almost all individuals who testified on behalf of the Fernan and Lower Twin lakes Monday expressed how further restrictions would positively impact their lives. 

Pat Boden, who lives on the Lower Twin Lakes, said his family has long lived in the area, with generational ties going back 70 years. Boden, like many, stated that the Fernan and Lower Twin lakes shouldn't have been tied into the ordinance with the Spokane River. 

"Why pass laws for other bodies on the lake when Twin Lakes is completely different? Why lump us into others when this is not right for Twin Lakes?" he asked. 

Commissioner Bill Brooks said he felt the board should send it back to the drawing board in response to Monday's testimony. 

"We have a number of different kinds of waterfronts, and one resolution does not accurately fit all," Brooks explained. 

Duncan agreed with Brooks, stating that she felt the Fernan and Lower Twin lakes should not be lumped into the ordinance with the Spokane River — the key waterway that inspired the initial rule. 

Fillios, however, disagreed with his fellow commissioners and contended that the action of pushing a decision to the next week was a "cop-out." 

"This is a cop-out. This is an absolute cop-out," Fillios said. "I have a problem with my co-commissioners. We've beat this to death for the past year. This isn't the way I make decisions. I'm ready to move forward." 

Duncan preferred to delay action because she said the language, as written in the new ordinance, still prevented activities like water skiing, waterboarding, or tubing. 

"We're applying this very narrow restrictive language that does away with all activity that is done between no-wake speed and being on a plane. That is the thing that had concerned me from the beginning when we started down this path," Duncan explained. "I think going back to the drawing board (is a good idea) because if we're going to do something, we're going to do it right." 

Before the meeting closed, a public member asked the board to reconsider moving the discussion regarding the Fernan and Lower Twin lakes to Tuesday. 

"Based on the comments I heard in the meeting yesterday, it sounds like most of the controversy surrounded the Spokane River," he said. "It would give a lot of the constituents of the county, particularly ones around the Lower Twin Lakes, some peace of mind."

Fillios and Brooks agreed to the proposal, and both voted to maintain the 150-foot ordinance on the Fernan and Lower Twin lakes. 

Voting on the Spokane River excessive wake rule is anticipated for Tuesday at the 11 a.m. meeting.