Bid awarded in Hope boat ramp project

By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff

Bonner County commissioners unanimously awarded a bid Tuesday, March 10 to Weekend Hoe Excavation and Hauling, the company slated to demolish and replace the boat ramp at the Hope boat basin.

The Hope boat ramp in winter. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert.

Bonner County Parks and Waterways Director Nate Demmons recommended accepting the bid for $98,301 — the lowest of three the county received — at the commissioners’ Tuesday business meeting.

“This project will be paid for, in part, by a [Idaho Parks and Recreation] Waterways Improvement Fund grant that [the county] acquired in June 2019,” Demmons said. “Bonner County’s match will be vessel account funds and in-kind labor.”

Commissioner Dan McDonald emphasized the need for upkeep at the Hope boat ramp.

“This is one of our very few — in not our only — boat ramp that is a 12-month boat ramp,” McDonald said. “You can use it 12 months out of the year, so it gets a lot of use, not just in the summer, so it’s important we maintain this.”

Demmon told the Reader after the meeting that the boat ramp currently has several issues, including large potholes and gaps between the sides of the ramp and the docks, leaving very little room for error when backing a boat trailer into the water. He said the new ramp will eliminate that gap.

Demmons said the goal is to begin work on the new ramp in November.