Camp Bay easement tabled after calls from public

SANDPOINT — The years-long process of examining public access and property rights at Camp Bay will continue. 

Bonner County commissioners voted Tuesday to table a final easement decision for a public access footpath at Camp Bay — a shoreline area of Lake Pend Oreille east of Sagle.  

The decision to table came after members of the public and commissioners scrutinized language in the easement document regarding use conditions for the trail, and after commenters at the business meeting urged commissioners to visit the site before signing off on the easement.

Commissioner Asia Williams told attendees the board would review the easement document with county legal counsel before considering approving the agreement. 

Public access to the shoreline at Camp Bay became a contested issue after a developer — M3 ID Camp Bay, LLC — acquired land in the area with an intent to build a subdivision. Dispute about the end point of Camp Bay Road and whether public access to the shore ever officially existed led the issue to simmer for more than a year until commissioners voted unanimously in a December 2022 hearing to vacate the end section of the road to M3. 

At the hearing, M3 shared a plan to create and pay for a half-mile public walking path connecting the end of the public section of road with the lakeshore. Critics said the proposed path was too long and that the terrain could prevent those with disabilities from accessing the shore. 

M3 has since built the footpath and waited to grant the easement and allow public access until the trail is completed. Almost two years after the hearing and decision to vacate, the path is essentially finalized, and the easement agreement came before commissioners. 

The sticking point for commissioners in the proposed agreement brought forth by M3 Tuesday was in the stated use conditions and policing of the area. According to clause No. 9 of the proposed agreement, Bonner County would police the area in accordance with the agreement’s use conditions, which prohibit night use, use of alcohol or tobacco, and trespassing on nearby property. 

The clause also stated M3 could employ private security or install a gate or barriers to prevent violations if Bonner County receives five written notices of infractions and fails to take reasonable actions. 

“I have concerns on number nine,” Williams said at the meeting. “I don't see us having the authority to do that, or the resources to do that.” 

Sheriff Daryl Wheeler also expressed concern about the clause, telling commissioners, “There is no statutory authority, either in state code or county code, for me to enforce or my deputies to enforce violations of disagreement.” 

About a dozen members of the public voiced concerns related to the proposed agreement, urging commissioners to make sure the public’s best interest is represented in the document. 

“I think this agreement gives too much control to M3 and the neighbors in interpreting the user agreement and what's a violation,” said county resident Molly McCahon. “I think that, as it reads right now, this agreement sets the public and Bonner County up for failure, and it guarantees conflict and litigation.” 

County legal counsel Bill Wilson told commissioners that while they could entertain a negotiation to revise the terms of the easement, he worried the county risked renewing litigation. 

“If we, for some reason, didn't do this, I don’t believe we have a legal justification not to,” Wilson said of signing an easement agreement with M3. “I think we would be subject to litigation quickly and we would lose.” 

M3 ownership partner Bill Brownlee was in attendance and told commissioners he was fine with the board tabling the item to examine the agreement’s legal elements. 

Ultimately, both Williams and Commissioner Ron Korn voted down a decision to approve the agreement and voted unanimously to table the item. Commissioner Steven Bradshaw, the lone sitting commissioner on the board during the December 2022 hearing, was absent from Tuesday’s meeting. 

Public access to the trail and lakeshore remains closed.

    A view of the proposed easement to Lake Pend Oreille in the Camp Bay area in Sagle.