Officials worry water lodges circumvent float home ban

SANDPOINT - Resistance is building against a new breed of float home being sold for use on northern Idaho waterways.

“Water lodges” made their debut at a regional boat show earlier this year and resource officials are concerned they will be used to dodge a moratorium on new float homes on Panhandle lakes because they're classified as a vessel by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The rectangular lodges are 42 feet long and about 11 feet wide, and they sport running lights and front motor mounts so they can be moved.

“They're certified by the Coast Guard to be a vessel, but they're residences,” said Jim Brady, a senior resource specialist for the Idaho Department of Lands in Sandpoint.

The lodges are raising eyebrows because they don't appear to be designed to be a mode of conveyance. The motor mount is an optional add-on and the 10-horsepower engines sold with them suggest the lodges are meant to be mostly stationary.

Idaho enacted rules in 1998 forbidding new float homes on navigable lakes, according to state administrative code. The relocation of float homes existing prior to 1974 also fell under tightened regulations concerning wastewater in order to protect water quality.

The lodges have 280-gallon septic tanks fitted with a Y valve, which allow their contents to be easily discharged into a body of water. Panhandle Heath District rules require such values to be sealed by an approved method, Brady said.

The size of the tanks are also raising questions because there are a limited number of pump-out stations on the lake. Brady said holding tanks on larger boats have capacities of only about 50 gallons.

“Their holding tank is 280 gallons. It's going to overwhelm pump-out stations, I think,” he said.

Within weeks of their debut, the state's Pend Oreille Basin Commission took a firm stance opposing the lodges, which they dubbed “quasi float homes.”

The commission, which was formed in 2003 by state lawmakers to provide input on water quality issues in the basin, is calling on regulatory agencies to block them from being licensed as watercraft or regarded as vessels.

The commission argues the “impacts to water quality could be devastating” if the current designations persist, according to a position memo released in February.

Bonner County's waterways advisory board is scheduled to take up the question of the floating lodges when it meets on April 17.

“What the county is looking at is some kind of regulation,” said Sheriff's Lt. Cary Kelly, who supervises the marine patrol.