Coolin land swap on ice

SANDPOINT - A controversial land trade at Priest Lake has been put on indefinite hold.

Backers of a petition asking the county to vacate public right of way in Coolin were unable to secure enough signatures from neighboring landowners needed to advance the proposal for a determination by Bonner County commissioners on Wednesday.

Steve Klatt of Better Site Designs, the project's representative, said there are 144 lots in the first addition to the town of Coolin, which meant the backers of the Slee Street vacation proposal needed 96 signatures.

Klatt said they had 90 signatures in hand and commitments for at least three more, though it was still not enough to satisfy the two-thirds requirement on Wednesday.

Planning Director Clare Marley said the applicant, PLBM LLC, could either withdraw its petition for the road vacation or remand it back to the applicant pending further signatures necessary to meet the two-thirds requirement.

"You will probably get a letter of withdrawal," Klatt told commissioners.

The applicant asked the county to abandon the public right of way to improve access, parking and use at the renovated Bishop's Marina. In exchange, the county would have received an adjacent upland parcel that would have improved vehicular access at the county's public boat launch.

But the proposal ran into opposition from residents who oppose the concept of trading waterfront land for upland ground, even though the respective pieces of property are comparable in size. While the swap was pending, marina operators prematurely posted signs on the public property telling people to keep out, which did not help the petitioners' cause.

If the proposed land trade is scuttled, little would change at the site. The keep out signs have been uprooted, although boat trailer traffic clotting would persist on busy days.