Camp Bay Road provides public access to the lake

This is in response to the commentary from Steve Klatt, former director of the Bonner County Road and Bridge Department, published in the Bonner County Daily Bee on Feb. 10, 2022. I am a local real estate attorney who litigated issues of access along South Camp Bay Road which is accessed through Camp Bay Road, and am therefore familiar with the dedication of the public access over Camp Bay Road.

I respectfully disagree with the headline to Mr. Klatt’s statement which erroneously claims, “Camp Bay area has never had public access.” This simply is not true. As Mr. Klatt admits, Camp Bay Road was dedicated to the public in 1908 through a “Viewer’s Report,” and acceptance of the public right of way by the county at the time. The Viewer’s Report clearly indicates that the termination point of the right of way is “on beach at high water line.” This is accompanied by a map which clearly depicts the right of way extending to the lake at Camp Bay.

There is, in fact, no reasonable dispute that the right of way extended, and still extends, to the lake. The county admits as much in its agenda for the February 16, 2022, public hearing on the proposed vacation of Camp Bay Road, in which the county states, “Green Enterprises, Inc. is requesting the vacation of approximately 2,550 ft (2.93 acres) of the Camp Bay Road right of way from the north boundary of the Petitioner’s Parcel No. R56N01E184800A, to the terminus of the road at the high-water mark of the Lake Pend Oreille.” Consequently, it is simply incorrect to claim that “Camp Bay area has never had public access.”

Mr. Klatt also claims that the Camp Bay Road public right of way is not 50 feet in width but is “not likely to have been more than 15 feet wide.” While the width of the physical roadway in 1908 is not known, the right of way nevertheless is 50 feet per Idaho law. This conclusion is mandated by Idaho Code § 40-2312 (and its predecessor statute, 1887 Revised Stat. of Idaho Territory, title VI, ch. II, § 932), which states that where a public dedication of a roadway fails to disclose the width of the right of way, the right of way is deemed to be 50 feet in width. Therefore, there is a 50-foot-wide public right of way extending to the Lake at Camp Bay.

The Bonner County commissioners, as well as the public, should be aware of the rights possessed by the public as the commissioners decide whether to abandon the Camp Bay Road right of way in favor of a private developer.

TOBY McLAUGHLIN

Sandpoint

Toby McLaughlin

Berg, McLaughlin & Nelson, Chtd