Cd'A to pursue BLM lease

COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene City Council voted unanimously on Thursday to proceed with an application to lease BLM land in the Four Corners area.

City officials worked with Welch Comer Engineers to process information, gathered at two public meetings, into a preliminary design for improvement to the Four Corners region, which runs from Independence Point to the Bureau of Land Management corridor's western boundary near the east end of Riverstone. BLM controls 29 of the 40 acres of land in the 2-mile stretch and could lease the property to the city, at little to no cost, if development is focused around public use.

"This is a process the city has been going through for several years now," said Steve Anthony, Parks and Recreation director. "We feel that we've gathered enough data and input at this point that we are prepared to send our documents to the federal government."

Phil Boyd, president of Welch Comer, took city officials through the proposed improvements to the BLM corridor. An important part of Thursday afternoon's presentation, Boyd said, was to not go into too much detail on the overall plan for the Four Corners.

"I think the important thing for council members to see are what the BLM expects to see moving forward," Boyd said. "So what we've attempted to do is capture public input, show those uses up here, and organize them in a way that is efficient."

Boyd proceeded to outline some of the development planned for the 29-acre strip of land. A soccer field, arboretum, waterfront picnic area, pickleball courts and a skate park were among the improvements.

All of the proposed improvements fit BLM requirements for leasing the corridor, he added.

A dog park was also included in addition to other improvements, Boyd said.

"It's a pretty substantial dog park," Boyd said. "There's about an acre and a half for the big dogs and about a three-quarters of an acre for small dogs. Of course that can change as we go along."

Prior to the council voting on the matter during a joint meeting with the Parks and Recreation Commission, a BLM representative explained the details of the application process with the federal entity, which could take up to a year. Janna Paronto, BLM realty specialist, told city officials that, as long as the federal land is developed in approved ways, her agency was able to lease the land at no cost to the city.

"Reasonable charges may be made to the public for use of facilities provided the fees are no more than those charged at comparable public installations," Paronto said. "You can charge a small fee to use something within this corridor, but those fees have to go back to maintenance or the lease."

If the land is not used for what was included in the application, Paronto said control would revert back to the federal government.

After 25 years of leasing the land from BLM, the city can apply for a patent on the land to secure exclusive rights to the area. However, Paronto added that the land would still need to be for public use.