Beachgoers want change in Hayden

Some options to improve the Honeysuckle Beach and the Hayden Lake boat launch were batted around by Hayden City Council members in a workshop Tuesday.

On a busy day at Honeysuckle Beach, what should be a relaxing lake visit can quickly turn into a litany of frustrations for beachgoers.

“I went down to the beach several times over the summer,” said Roger Saterfiel, Hayden City Council member. “And I didn’t use it because it was too crowded.”

The user experience around Honeysuckle Beach and the boat launch has been deteriorating, according to a study ordered by the city council to assess the public perceptions of the park.

The public survey outlined overcrowding, traffic and lack of trailer parking as major issues for the public experience around using the beach.

Different council members had different priorities in addressing the issues from the study, but council members Matt Roetter, Ed DePriest and Saterfiel share a sense that managing use is the best path forward.

“If we create more parking, is it just going to be more overused?” Saterfiel said.

DePriest leaned in any direction that allowed Hayden taxpayers to best access the tax-funded beach. He was open to fees that would allow usage to remain the same, but balanced differently, with more local usage and less from out of state.

Roetter emphasized that if overcrowding is the main issue, then reducing usage would solve issues around user experience.

“My thinking is we need to reduce the out-of-state usage to make room and opportunity to increase local usage,” Roetter said.

Roetter favored options that might limit access to anyone who lives outside of Hayden or Kootenai County.

He speculated that fees for Washington passes could be $800 and a Hayden resident might pay $40.

That plan isn’t feasible, though. Cost is difficult to use as a deterrent because per code, an out-of-state fee can only be double a local fee. So if a local pays a day-use rate of $20, a Washington native can only pay $40.

So using cost as a deterrent would also likely deter locals from using the beach.

Some options for improvement included enlarging the beach and reducing parking at the boat launch and offering offsite parking, expanding docks in the water to accommodate more boats and docks, or fees that could discourage use, or cover costs of increased use.

Another option would be an online scheduling system to prepay and preschedule use.

All of the improvement options would likely require a full-time staff member on site to manage movement through the beach.

To better understand their options to make improvements, the Hayden City Council directed staff to gather more information including a fee study.

Also to investigate some legal options for parking fees and to look into more efficient options for bathroom maintenance.

When the council gets additional information, they’ll move closer to making decisions in following meetings.