Court: Launch belongs to Delavan

The dispute over Delavan's Landing boat launch has come to a close after several years of debate over who the launch belongs to.

Greg and Ellen Delavan prevailed on Monday when the verdict, signed by First District Court Judge Lansing Haynes, came back in favor of the defendants.

The East Side Highway District in Coeur d'Alene filed a lawsuit against the Delavans claiming title to the boat launch. The lawsuit was filed by the plaintiff in 2012, but Greg Delavan said the discussion began before that.

"It all began years ago when the county commissioners decided they wanted to start charging ramp fees for people to launch boats, and I thought it wasn't appropriate for them to charge a fee to use my ramp," Greg Delavan said. "That began the argument quite a few years ago and since then they have been trying to take it from me."

Defense attorney John Magnuson said the county wanted to charge commercial users, locals who make their living on the lake.

"And Greg was not in favor of that, nor did he think they had the authority to do that because the Delavans always claimed the boat launch," Magnuson said.

Magnuson said Delavan told Kootenai County Parks and Waterways the public could continue to use the boat launch but they could not charge for its use.

In 2009 the dispute over the boat launch continued when a winter storm damaged the old docks at Boothe's Park. The docks were removed by Kootenai County and Delavan was asked to sign papers allowing new docks to be built, but he would not sign without an insurance policy releasing him from any liability for damage or injury that may occur at the boat launch.

John Pankratz, East Side road supervisor told The Press in 2011, as the dock controversy continued after three years, that Delavan "claims that he owns the property where the boat launch is, and our documents disagree." The following year the highway district filed the lawsuit.

In 1945, Delavan's grandfather acquired lots 19-22 on South Boothe Park Road off East Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive. Ten years later a concrete boat launch was built, which is located in the northwest corner of lot 19.

Delavan's grandfather built a fence between the southern edge of the boat launch and the Delavan property, but Magnuson said it was not intended to be a boundary between properties as the plaintiffs claimed in the lawsuit. It was put in simply as a privacy barrier when the Delavans originally began to allow the public to use the launch.

"Ultimately the court saw the truth and the judge made a good decision," Delavan said.

The court found the defendants and their predecessors permitted the boat launch to be placed on their lot and allowed it to be used by the public. The fence the Delavans erected did not constitute a boundary between the defendants’ property and the plaintiff’s property. The court also found the highway district had not maintained the boat launch over the last "couple decades" and the Delavans and Kootenai County Department of Parks and Waterways had, in fact, maintained the launch.

The court therefore concluded the plaintiff failed to prove an uncertain or disputed boundary, and failed to prove a subsequent agreement fixing the boundary.

"All use by all parties (other than the defendants) has been permissive," Magnuson said. "The holding is that the boat launch is owned by Delavan and Delavan's grandfather allowed it to be permissively placed by the highway district's predecessor. All use since its original placement has been permissive and ergo can be revoked at any time."

Delavan said he will continue to allow the public to use Delavan's Landing. He said it is not a large area and there is not a lot of parking, but it is a favorite for a lot of people especially in the winter months because it is convenient.

"We have let the public use it for three generations now — it's something my grandfather began and my father continued and I've continued it as well," Delavan said, adding he only requests people be respectful because it is a residential community. "We don't plan any dramatic changes. We have a marina right there and we allow people to use the boat launch, and we are happy to have our friends and neighbors use it."