Bayview residents made their voices heard ahead of the termination of the Bayview docks lease scheduled for Jan. 1 during a Waterways Advisory Committee meeting Thursday. 

Over the last year, the Lakes Highway District and Kootenai County commissioners have been working to determine future maintenance of the docks on Lake Pend Oreille after the commissioners terminated the lease December 2024. 

A short-term resolution in July was made to terminate the lease a second time at the start of the new year and find a more agreeable solution to both parties. Notice of a lease termination agreement requires at least a six-month notice to either party.      

During the fiscal year 2025 budget deliberations, the BOCC declined to appropriate funds toward the current lease agreement with Lakes Highway District. The lease payment was $25,000.

Gary MacDonald of MacDonald's Resort had requested the Bayview docks be added to the monthly meeting.

“In the hearings with the commissioners, we asked them pointedly, ‘what is the problem?’ and we could not get an answer, truly,” MacDonald said. 

Tom Torgerson stated that he and other Waterways Advisory Board members have no control over contracts. 

“The dock’s going to be there, the launch is going to be there, it’s done,” Torgerson said. “Effectively, nothing has changed, but everything has changed.” 

Residents expressed frustration at the meeting, mainly because the dock had been removed last year without their knowledge. Tensions between Kootenai County and the Lakes Highway District dragged on for weeks before they finally reached a temporary agreement, allowing the installation of a new dock in time for the summer boating season.

Bayview's docks have also been an additional point of access for emergency medical care.

"The ramp is emergency item," Jamie Berube said. "Our community is old; somebody is going to die."

Torgerson said he supports the residents and wants the ramp open and accessible, but it isn’t the committee’s purview to intervene beyond hearing concerns that are passed along to the county commissioners. 

“The highway district owns down to the high-water mark and the county is trying to deal with what’s below,” Torgerson said. “Does somebody want to give up their real estate or their rights to property?” 

A transfer of ownership for the property was issued April 23 by the Lakes Highway District to cut the district out of the picture since it owns land it legally cannot maintain as a highway district. The BOCC decided the county shouldn’t proceed without a cost-benefit analysis for the Bayview property and dock installation efforts were further stalled.    

“It’s my impression that the road district and the county would be ready to bury the hatchet and do the right thing and get that ramp in operation and that's our goal,” MacDonald said. 

Parks and Waterways Director Nick Snyder said the agreement revolves around a matter of management for the publicly owned space, which the commissioners will be revisiting after the lease termination goes into effect. 

“We want to put citizens at ease,” Snyder said.  

 Members of the Waterways Advisory Board for Kootenai County met Left to right: Jeff Stagner, Tom Torgerson, Doug Harris, Mike Pelissero, Don Warner and Gary Schmidt.