Whose road ... who pays?

COEUR d'ALENE - Whose dike is it, really?

That question came up Wednesday when city of Coeur d'Alene representatives provided North Idaho College trustees with an update on the work being done along Rosenberry Drive, also known as "the dike road," which runs along the NIC campus near the beach and Spokane River.

Coeur d'Alene City Administrator Jim Hammond and City Engineer Gordon Dobler recommended to the trustees that the college split the cost of more than $800,000 in maintenance work still required for flood levee to be certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

NIC Trustee Ken Howard told The Press Friday that during the meeting he raised questions regarding which entity is legally responsible for maintaining the dike.

"If it's the city's fundamental responsibility, and they're paying (the maintenance costs) for everybody else, but want us to pay half - is that really fair?" Howard said.

Dobler said although the city is the official sponsor of the certification project, it is operating in a gray area since the city only owns Rosenberry Drive, which sits atop the levee. The college, he added, owns the beach property and a considerable amount of the property behind the levee.

"The question of who is actually responsible for the levee has never been asked before," Dobler said.

"That was mill property when the dike was first built," Hammond added. "The original title to that was just giving title and it didn't clarify well - there wasn't an accurate legal description and that's why it gets a little confusing."

According to Hammond, the proposed 50 percent split was determined by assessing property values in the Fort Grounds area. That assessment, he said, found that the college accounts for just less than half of the total.

Board Chair Christie Wood told The Press that she was comfortable with the even split and cited the college's history of working hand-in-hand with the city. She added that the city lowered the cost of the project by using its crews to remove trees and make other improvements on the dike road itself.

"There's been quite a bit of expense put forward by the city," Wood said. "Not to mention that the city is the one that's done all the negotiating with the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the impact to the dike road and lessen the removal of the trees. They've been a good partner and I know they will continue to be in the projects we are working on together in the future."

The board of trustees directed college administration to return to the negotiating table with city officials. Howard said it is his hope the matter will be resolved at the group's meeting in February.

"I'm not opposed to us contributing," Howard said. "I just want to sit down and see if we can come to an equitable agreement. It's not a matter of being upset with the city for some reason, it's a matter of economics and us not being able to pay that much."

Since Tuesday's meeting, City Engineer Gordon Dobler has been working with city officials on a solution that would see the maintenance cost for the college lowered.

"We're pretty confident we will get that worked out without any problems," Hammond said.

Dobler added that he will also be working with NIC administration to "sort out" who is responsible for any future work on the levee. The results of those meetings will eventually be used as a foundation for a formal easement, he said.

If the levee is not certified by FEMA, Hammond told The Press that property owners in the Fort Grounds area would be required to purchase flood insurance. In the event of a major flood, he added, that those affected would not qualify for any federal disaster relief.

"The practical side is you want to protect the college and the neighborhood from being flooded," Hammond said. "If there ever was an issue you want to make sure the dike has been properly maintained so if there is any flooding at all we can show that we did everything to prevent that."