Construction ongoing at marina adjacent to Trestle Creek

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

Construction is ongoing at the Idaho Club’s 88-slip marina adjacent to the mouth of Trestle Creek, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers temporarily halted activities Dec. 22, due to an alleged permit violation. Developers have since installed pilings and riprap, and diverted a culvert known as the Trestle Creek North Branch Outlet into the primary stream.

The Idaho Conservation League alleges that developers Valiant Idaho, LLC and Valiant Idaho II, LLC, violated their conditional use permit by diverting the North Branch while it was flowing. Jeremy Grimm, of Whiskey Rock Planning + Consulting, representing the developer, denies this claim, citing an assessment by the Corps. Litigation is ongoing between ICL, the developers, the Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming that the marina will harm the native bull trout population.

“Not only did the developer begin work on the marina before the North Branch was rerouted, they also likely engaged in the rerouting work while the stream was flowing,” ICL North Idaho Director Jennifer Ekstrom told the Reader. “I documented the stream flowing on Jan. 24. I later learned that the developer completed the reroute on Jan. 28 and 29 …”

The development has long come under fire from environmental protection groups like ICL and the Center for Biological Diversity for its potential negative impacts on the Trestle Creek bull trout population. The species is listed as threatened in all of its known habitats — including Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington — and is protected under the Endangered Species Act. More than half of the Pend Oreille Basin’s bull trout population spawns in Trestle Creek, making it “one of the Pacific Northwest’s most important spawning streams,” according to ICL.

“The biggest threats to bull trout will come from the ongoing operation of a busy marina, the predator habitat it creates, and the pollution that will be caused by both the marina and the housing development,” Ekstrom told the Reader.

“The agencies in charge of protecting our imperilled fisheries are not doing their job. We will continue to do all we can to stand up for bull trout and their survival in the Pend Oreille Basin,” she added.

Developers have claimed that removing the North Branch, which diverts bull fry into warm, predator-rich waters that already host a dilapidated marina, will make the development a net benefit to the bull trout population. Further plans to mitigate the impact on Trestle Creek’s wildlife include establishing a no-wake zone, leaving existing man-made islands, and installing erosion protection and landscaping to revitalize riparian zones.

The Corps and the USFWS gave developers a specific order of operations during construction to comply with the Clean Water, Endangered Species and National Environmental Policy acts. These conditions of approval required that workers wait until the North Branch ran dry — anytime between August and November — to reroute the branch, after which they could begin construction. According to the Corps and USFWS biological assessment, if the workers could not complete the diversion in that timeframe, “work may be performed during low flow month in the winter when fish activity is minimal.”

In late November, developers reported that the branch had begun to flow again due to unseasonably wet weather and requested permission to install a pipe to divert the flow. The Corps informed them that that would necessitate “permit modifications,” among other requirements.

Builders began construction in December before the North Branch was completely dry. The Corps subsequently issued a letter of non-compliance and a stop-work order on Dec. 22; however, developers maintain that construction did not violate the permit because it occurred above the high-water mark.

According to the March 24 findings by First District Judge David Nye, Corps Environmental Resources Specialist Garrett Schock verified that the North Branch was dry on Jan. 28, and workers rerouted the culvert the same day.

ICL and CBD subsequently filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to halt construction, arguing that “the developer’s violation of the permit may have endangered bull trout in unanticipated ways.”

Nye ruled against the entities’ injunction March 24, stating, “Any harms caused by sedimentation are purely in the past.”

Grimm called ICL’s allegations “false,” adding that the March 24 findings showed that “all work was done in the dry prior to the successful completion of the North Branch restoration, and that no harm to bull trout has been shown or proven.”

“It may also be worth noting that an independent third party engineering firm performs weekly inspections for compliance with permits, and has completed over 30 such reports without finding a single instance of non-compliance or corrective action required,” added Grimm.

Plans for the Idaho Club marina and adjacent housing have changed significantly since it was first proposed nearly 18 years ago. Developers recently reduced the scope of construction to the current seven single-family dwelling units with private docks, the public marina, a breakwater, a pedestrian bridge, a boat bilge pump-out station, a 46-space parking lot and boat storage.

“The property owner plans to continue to complete the scope of the project strictly within the conditions of the permits obtained, all of which are active and in full compliance,” stated Grimm.