All of you living in CdA and those out in the Silver Beach area of the County will want to pay attention to this meeting tomorrow., Monday, Oct. 8th. Here’s what the city’s web site says:
“The Coeur d’Alene City Council will be holding a workshop with the Idaho Transportation Department on Monday, October 8th, at 5:00 p.m., in the Library Community Room, to discuss the proposed transfer of Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive from the ITD to the City of Coeur d’Alene. The city will present facts about about the proposed transfer and hear comments, concerns, or questions from the public.”
The key points about the meeting are that they will listen to public comment, which they will not often allow at their “workshops”, and that they say they will present “facts”. But will they present all the facts?
Will they tell us the true details about public access to the lake along this route? The Mayor says in today’s Press, “Obtaining waterfront property for public use has always been a real driving force and long term goal of the city.” What she’s not saying is that the trail & park land are already held in public trust by the state; the public already has access. (Only the docks are private)
Will they tell us the true cost of maintenance for this 5.2 miles? The City Street Dept. estimate of $13,000/ yr. was only for the very basic jobs of painting stripes and moving snow. They did not include the expensive top coating and overlays that must be done to roads on a regular basis. An official from the Eastside Highway District said that they just recently finished an overlay on a similar section of road that was only 2 miles long. That cost was $600,000. If you apply that $300,000 cost per mile for the 5.2 mile stretch of CdA Lake Drive, the total cost for an overlay is more than $1.5 million. And this official said the road needs an overlay now.
The state is offering to give the city close to $3 million for future maintenance. Will the city keep that money in a dedicated account, to be used only for that purpose? (I can hardly type that question because I’m laughing so hard–the city moves money around at will, even from funds which are supposed to be “lock box” type accounts. If the city wants something, they’ll raid any fund to get it.)
That said, I think the $3 million is why they’ll take the deal. They’ll use the money for the new boat launch they want out near Silver Beach. Not where the first one was proposed out there, that location was too steep. They’ll do a land swap and put the launch where the Beach House Marina is now, and the parking will be on the opposite side of the road. (You and your family will have to cross both the busy road and the busy Centennial Trail 4 times to launch your boat and get it back on the trailer at the end of the day.) And, when the street needs an overlay, top coat or upkeep of other sorts, the taxpayers of CdA will have to pay more.
There’s also a big question about annexation. There are few, if any, city taxpayers along this stretch of road because most of it is currently in the county. Will the city force the annexation of the people living in this area so some of the upkeep is covered? Mayor Bloem says they have no plans to do so. Do you trust her? If you live in that area, you might want to come to the meeting.
We all know the city just wants this road so they can put in a new boat launch and finally get rid of the 3rd St. site. They’ll gin up every kind of “benefit” they can think of to rationalize this acquisition. It reminds me of the old Popeye cartoons from years ago, when Wimpy would say, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today”. Only the city’s version of it would be, “We’ll gladly tax you later for the white elephant we’re going to take today!”
5:00pm tomorrow, Monday, at the Library Community Room on the lower level.
Asking if readers trust Bloem, Kennedy, Goodlander, McEvers, Gabriel, and Eastwood reminds me of the fable of the scorpion and the frog.
Comment by Bill — October 8, 2012 @ 6:55 am
I would like to see a color coded parcel map highlighting the public lands and private lands adjacent to the lake front along both sides of the drive other than the road right of way. I think that would tell a true story of the access. I also think the Eastside highway district’s estimates would show an unbiased estimate of maintenance expenses.
Comment by Ancientemplar — October 8, 2012 @ 7:57 am
I think that kind of map would be very helpful, Ancient. I hope we will see one presented at the meeting today, along with the actual maintenance and upkeep costs for that road over the past, say 10 years.
I do know that the Centennial trail and all the land between the roadway and the water’s edge is publicly held by the state. I’m not really sure about what kind of further “access” the mayor has in mind. Does she envision people tramping / sliding down the sharp incline off the Centennial trail, over the jagged rocks and into the lake? Not sure that the public has a right to do that, nor would they want to, but hopefully it will all be explained this evening.
Bill, great story!
Comment by mary — October 8, 2012 @ 8:33 am
Before the City commits to anything in that area, there needs to be an independent geological study of the area. “Independent” means one done by a qualified geologist not beholden to any of the parties with overt or covert financial or developmental interests in the area.
Comment by Bill — October 8, 2012 @ 8:56 am
Ever wonder why even in the driest or Summers there are always cattails growing in the right-of-way adjacent to Lakeshore Drive? There are two basic reasons: First, the hill continually seeps, seeped even before the days of septic tanks and lawn watering upslope.
Second, there is a super high-tech fiber optic cable cluster adjacent to the eastern road surface of the highway. The cable is encased in what is refferred to as “gyp-crete” a somewhat maliable mud, but waterproof to protect the fiber-optic cluster. This encasement prevents stormwater infiltration, therefore water pools and that is why the wetland species of cattails grow so well.
With all roads, it is just a matter of time before the road needs regrinding so that it will hold a new layer of asphalt. I certainly hope that the owner of that cable/easement is brought into the discussion sooner than later, I’m sure there are caveats within their easement agreement that will add to the cost of any repair and/or expanded use of the right-of-way for water, sewer, etc.
Comment by old dog — October 9, 2012 @ 1:11 pm