Commissioners considering options with leased properties

WALLACE –– A recent decision from the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) may lead to some frustrations from former lessees.

It was recently announced that the BOCC would not be renewing any leases on county property through May 31, to give the board time to review the properties that had been leased and determine if that was the best use of them.

According to county records, Shoshone County had 14 different lease agreements for various pieces of county property – these include parcels of land and equipment.

Several of the parcels of land that have been leased are along the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, which has bed a hotbed of controversy in recent years due to the high volume of use the area surrounding the North Fork has experienced.

During a meeting on May 3, the discussion of renewing the lease agreements Was part of the BOCC’s regular consent agenda – however, board chairman Dave Dose asked that the decision to approve the lease agreements be tabled for 30 days so that the board could take a hard look at how the county was managing the properties in question.

“I would like us to look into what land can be sold and no longer leased, what land has to be held because of FEMA restrictions that we cannot sell,” Dose said. “I would also like to table the discussion for 30 days because I’d like to update our rental rates and how we advertise these pieces of land.”

In a recent letter from the board to their ‘citizens who currently lease or have leased certain properties owned by Shoshone County,’ it was stated that the three things they were looking into were as follows:

• Which county properties currently being leased or currently vacant might potentially be priced and sold at public auction this calendar year?
• How the county wants to procedurally price and advertise for public bidding any properties that we do determine we will still be offering for lease.
• Which properties the county owns which might be put to good use by the general public for recreational or other purposes beneficial to the public at large, etc?

Concerns were raised about whether or not payments had already been taken for future leases, but Dose said that they needed to be approved by mutual agreement, so any payments taken for lease agreements that haven’t been approved by the board are not finalized.

Dose also made sure to get approval from the county’s legal counsel before bringing his motion before his fellow commissioners.

“I think it’s in the county’s best interest to consider selling and getting out of the rental business where we’re competing with private enterprise,” Dose said. “I think it’s in fairness to all county residents that we figure out much of this land – nothing against the families that have had the land, but much of it has stayed in the same families and there’s been no public information about the availability of this land. I think to be more transparent in our 30 days we should look at, do we want to sell or not. And if we’re going to keep it and lease it, how do we advertise it? And how do we update our pricing?”

Dose also said that some of the rent being paid for the lease of the land is less than what they would collect in property tax if they were to sell it.

It was also discussed how, if the county was going to stay in the rental game, then the properties needed to be put up for bid annually – not simply continuously leased to the same people over and over with no public notice.

Some of the property exists in areas that, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are not eligible for sale due to various reasons, including being entirely in a potential disaster zone(such as a flood plain).

Those properties can be leased on a seasonal basis – which makes them ideal spots for summer camping.

One of the most commonly suggested ideas for the use of these lands has been the development of a parking area for single-day use near the Coeur d’Alene River – an idea that checks several boxes for the county. Including, adding a revenue stream, eliminating the safety concerns from illegal roadside parking, and mitigating some of the overcrowding that takes place in the region.

“Some of this land up the river might be something we can use for our recreation needs,” Dose said. “We have a need for parking up the river. The sheriff and I were talking the other day about this challenge of there being no place to park and they’re parking illegally. I don’t want to turn it all into parking lots, what if we owned a piece that could be turned into a decent public access or something? I understand we’re changing years of history here.”

The board has set itself a goal of having enough information to move forward by the beginning of June and the Shoshone News-Press will have a follow-up story with their decision.