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Bonner County issues stop-work order against RV park, sand beach

The lawsuit was filed against Craig Hermsmeyer, the owner of the property, who was sent two stop-work orders by the county earlier this year.
Credit: ART BISTLINE
Aerial view of the development above Bishops Bay near Morton Slough before the development of an RV park and sand beach. The county filed a civil suit against owner Craig Hermsmeyer over the lack of permits for the project.

SAGLE, Idaho — A private development at Bishops Bay is facing a civil lawsuit from the Bonner County Board of Commissioners, as reported by our news partner, the Bonner County Daily Bee.

The lawsuit centers around the construction of a multi-space RV park and removal of natural vegetation along a section of the Pend Oreille River without obtaining permits beforehand.

The lawsuit was filed against Craig Hermsmeyer, the owner of the property, who was sent two stop-work orders by the county earlier this year. The county filed suit on July 13 against Hermsmeyer when it became apparent that work was still being done on the project.

“We’re just going to work through things with the courts system at this point,” said Bonner County Planning Director Milton Ollerton. “Right now, the request is to have him remove everything. There are permits he can apply for, but it’ll be pretty extensive.”

Hermsmeyer’s project is missing permits from Bonner County, IDL, Panhandle Health District, Army Corps of Engineers, and others, according to a media release from Bonner County on July 16.

The land located off of Camp Peine Road was purchased by Hermsmeyer in December of 2019. The development in question violates two county ordinances, as well as a third against stop-orders on the project.

The first ordinance concerns the construction of an RV park, which violates the Rural/Residential 5-acre zoning where the property is located.

The second concerns the removal of natural vegetation along the Pend Oreille River, which was replaced by a sand beach at the shoreline. Bonner County Code requires 40 feet of natural vegetation barrier, without disturbing the non-invasive natural plants that are already growing in the area.

An additional ordinance was violated when construction on the project continued after two stop-work notices from the county.

The six page civil complaint filed by the county will require a written response from Hermsmeyer sometime in the next month. The county is asking the court to rule in its favor, which would require Hermsmeyer to pay for court and attorney fees, and remove the sand from the vegetation buffer zone in efforts to return the area to “their pre-existing condition.” The county is also requesting an injunction to prevent the RV park from operating without a conditional use permit in order to “afford the county respite from uncertainty and controversy regarding the disputed property.”

“It’s over,” said Hermsmeyer in an interview with the Daily Bee. “We’ve talked to neighbors about what our plans were. Because of the neighbors not being happy with it we’ve decided that we just don’t want to move forward.”

Not included in the criminal complaint is the construction of a boardwalk, dock, and two piers on the property. Hermsmeyer applied for a permit to build a boardwalk and dock across the inlet at Bishop’s Bay in April 2020. Although he did not receive the permit, photo evidence of the completed project was submitted to the Daily Bee by previous contractor Robert Payne.

“We want to do the next right thing,” Hermsmeyer said. “That includes answering everything the county needs done and we’re going to do it. Basically we’ve ceased and desisted over a month ago. We’re not doing anything else out there.”

The Bonner County Daily Bee is a KREM 2 news partner. For more from our news partner, click here.

    

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