BoCo planning staff: Camp Bay Road vacation ‘is in the public interest’

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff

Bonner County Planning staff has issued its staff report on a file proposing the vacation of Camp Bay Road, set to be discussed at a Monday, Dec. 19 hearing where Bonner County commissioners will vote once again on the application from developer M3 ID Camp Bay, LLC. While the staff report does not list an official recommendation to commissioners, the conclusions of law state that staff finds the abandonment of the public right-of-way “is in the public interest.”

The Dec. 19 hearing, slated for 9 a.m. at the Bonner County Administration Building, will mark the third time commissioners have heard the file, which requests that the last 2,550 feet of Camp Bay Road be vacated to M3. The board ruled that the vacation was in the public interest in April 2021 — a decision that was ultimately remanded back to the commissioners after Camp Bay Road residents Fred and Jennifer Arn petitioned a judge to review the decision.

Supporters of recognizing public access at Camp Bay Road gathered for a barbecue in February 2022. Photo by Keith Bansemer.

The county heard the file again in February 2022 and denied it, with the commissioners conceding that they weren’t sure whether the road provided public access to Lake Pend Oreille. M3 petitioned a court for review of that ruling in March, and in September, a judge remanded the file back to the board again.

Now, commissioners will hear a revised version of M3’s road vacation proposal, this time including a “natural dirt trail measuring between four feet to six feet in width” which would lead from the end of the road’s new proposed public endpoint to a piece of beach access.

In its hearing notice, Bonner County said the Dec. 19 meeting “will focus solely on the proposed walking path and its impact on the public interest in the proposed vacation.” 

“Validating the terminus point of Camp Bay Road is not the intended purpose of this hearing,” the notice continued, “and the Bonner County Board of Commissioners will not consider evidence or testimony offered on that topic.”

In a staff report now published on the county website, planners did not offer a recommendation. However, the conclusions of law point to staff finding the vacation in compliance with state and county code.

The report states that “it should be noted that” state laws surrounding road vacations “contain no standards or requirements against which staff can evaluate the public access walking path proposed by the applicant, either as a stand-alone proposal or in concert with the proposed vacation.”

“This evaluation and decision are at the discretion of the elected Board of County Commissioners,” the report notes.

The staff report and other files associated with the proposed vacation of Camp Bay Road can be viewed at bonnercountyid.gov/FileVS0002-21.