Garfield Bay Park to see grant-funded improvements

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff

The Bonner County commissioners on May 30 unanimously approved accepting a grant from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation to fund improvements to Garfield Bay Park in Sagle.

The grant would pay for new picnic tables, benches and fencing at the park, which is adjacent to the Garfield Bay Campground and open from the weekend prior to Memorial Day to the weekend after Labor Day. 

IDPR has pledged $30,600 in funds to the project, and the grant requires a $7,100 match from Bonner County.

“About half of that [match] is in cash and the other half is in labor,” Bonner County Recreation Director Pete Hughes told commissioners May 30.

During public comment, Deputy Prosecutor Bill Wilson commended Hughes for his work to improve the site.

“Those picnic tables out there are pretty tough to sit on right now,” Wilson said. “They’ve been out there a long, long time.”

Also at the May 30 meeting, Hughes received unanimous approval to request $116,200 in reimbursable funds from IDPR in relation to a Waterways Improvement Fund grant for the county’s Lakeview breakwater repair project, which Hughes said is now complete.