Bayview blues

BAYVIEW, Idaho – Bob Holland is embarking on his own version of Extreme Makeover – taking on a town as his project. Two years ago, the Hayden developer bought a marina in Bayview, a time warp of affordable trailer parks, unpretentious bars and float homes clustered around an inlet of Lake Pend Oreille. Bit by bit, Holland’s portfolio grew, until he owned

three of Bayview’s six marinas, and a good portion of town.

Signs of his industry are inescapable.

Stroll down Main Street, and you’ll notice new paint on the Buttonhook Pub. Head to the docks, and you’ll see a crane tearing down World War II-era boat sheds. The seawall is new, and so is the cedar siding on a dated apartment building that Holland is converting into upscale condos.

Some residents complain about the constant construction noise. But Holland, 55, is just beginning.

He has a three-year vision for turning Bayview into a resort destination. Aging trailers would be remodeled or replaced. Marinas would become “dock-o-miniums,” with the slips sold to boaters or float home owners. Condos are planned along Vista Bay, and additional housing could rise from the site of an old motel.

His most ambitious project is a seven-story waterfront tower with $990,000 penthouses.

“When we build this seven-story building, we will make a statement about the values in Bayview,” Holland said. “We’ll show that there’s something north of Coeur d’Alene besides Sandpoint.”

But Holland is stirring up more riffles than a northerly wind over the lake in this unincorporated community of 300.

His plans grate on some residents, who consider them a threat to Bayview’s eclectic, laid-back lifestyle. People of all income brackets meet at the docks, equals in their affection for their boats and time spent on the water.

“It’s like an attack on our town,” said one woman, who didn’t want to give her name. “This is a little fishing village. … People come here for the peace and quiet.”

Others worry that they’ll be priced out of new Bayview.

“Every place I go, it seems to be the topic of conversation, and it’s not a healthy conversation,” said Skip Wilcox, a semi-retired counselor and longtime Bayview resident.

Wilcox, 70, lives in a ‘60s-era trailer tucked into a grove of fir trees in View of the Bay trailer park. His fence is made of driftwood salvaged from the lake.

Nearly every day, Wilcox rides his bike in nearby Farragut State Park and boats in a vintage wooden Chris-Craft. It’s a lifestyle he has enjoyed for the $240 per month it cost to rent his trailer site, plus moorage fees.

Both his rent and moorage fees rose when Holland became his landlord. But even more unsettling, Wilcox said, are Holland’s long-term plans. Eventually, Holland wants the park’s three dozen residents to re-side their trailers for a Cape Cod-style effect, or replace them with $50,000 cabin-like trailers.

“My concern for us in the trailer park is where do we go from here?” Wilcox said. “Will we be able to stay or will we be priced out?”

Some of Bayview’s 90 float home owners share the same fears.

In a March 28 letter sent to Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysura, the Floating Homes Association of Idaho accused Holland of bullying tactics. Last year, he tried to raise moorage rates by 50 percent to 80 percent without the written 90-day notification to tenants required by state law, the letter said.

Float home owners who refused to pay the increase were threatened with eviction, according to the letter.

When Holland met with float home owners again this spring, he told them that another rent increase was in the works, the letter said. He also discussed plans to convert the marinas into “dock-o-miniums” by 2007. Float home owners would pay $100,000 or more to buy their slips, and they would own the space through an association.

The price has drawn some gasps.

“We’d like to have that sticker shock once and get it over with,” Holland said.

The $100,000 is based on appraisals, he said. Property values are rising all over Kootenai County, and the increase in moorage rates and the proposed cost for the slips reflect that, Holland said.

Holland’s plans to sell slips will be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting of the state Land Board in Boise. His proposal has created such a flurry of calls to the state Department of Lands that employee Jim Brady spends three to four hours each week responding.

“The jury’s still out as to what he’s doing and whether it’s legal,” said Brady, lands resource specialist for the navigable waters section.

Marina sites are leased from the state on a 10-year basis, so it’s unclear whether a marina owner could actually sell slips, he said.

Float home owners are asking that question as well, said Lyn Shoemaker, treasurer for the float home association. “No marina owner owns the lake bed,” said Shoemaker, a Spokane Valley resident. “How can you have ownership of anything if the state only issues leases for 10 years?”

Shoemaker and her husband, Powell, own a Bayview float home in a marina not owned by Holland.

Several years ago, the association was active in writing protections into state law for float homes. The law governs notification for rent increases and requirements for terminating leases. Land Board policy, adopted in 1999, also advocates “reasonable” moorage rates for float homes since, unlike boats, they can’t easily move to another marina, Shoemaker noted.

But opinion isn’t united. Randy Ragan likes the idea of being able to buy a slip. He and his wife spend long summer weekends in Bayview in a float home they purchased two years ago.

“If we owned our spot we wouldn’t have the issue of rents going up,” Ragan said. “And I think there would be more pride of ownership.”

Holland spent 30 years as a developer, primarily in the Southwest. He’s a Spokane native who earned a degree in landscape architecture at Washington State University. He’s also the sole owner of Waterford Park Homes LLC.

Mobile home parks, RV parks and condos have been his focus. Holland said he bought several parks, upgraded them and sold the owners their spaces. In other states, the trend is also common among marinas, he said.

Holland isn’t surprised that he’s the topic of conversation around town. People keep tabs on how fast his company’s trucks drive; what his manager said at the chamber of commerce meeting; and the stop work orders he received from Kootenai County for constructing a retaining wall without permits. People also discuss a lawsuit filed in December against Waterford Homes.

John and Tammy Jereczek, tenants in one of Waterford’s marinas, said in the suit that company employees were responsible for sinking their 48-foot houseboat by not securing it properly after they moved it. Holland’s attorneys said the boat was “unseaworthy.” The case is pending.

Feelings have run so high that “Bayview Pride” buttons distributed by Holland’s firm, displaying the Waterford logo, have been defaced.

“Bayview is so small that this is a real focus of a lot of people’s attention,” Holland said. “It’s the same in Dover, the same in Harrison and the same in the Silver Valley.”

Rural areas of North Idaho are experiencing the growth spurt that came earlier to Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and Sandpoint. Not everyone likes it, but that doesn’t stop it from happening, said Holland, who has other projects in St. Maries, Spirit Lake, Harrison and Rathdrum.

Over the past 15 years, little had changed in Bayview, said Tina Arendt, a longtime resident who now works for Holland.

“We’ve kind of been in a time warp out here. I think that’s why there’s so much controversy about what Waterford is doing,” Arendt said. “People were used to cheap land and cheap rentals.”