IDL outlines plan to auction Priest, Payette sites
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Land managers unveiled a plan to hold auctions for prized Idaho-owned lakeside cottage sites after the state Supreme Court in June ruled it was unconstitutional to allow existing leaseholders to simply renew their contracts.
The Department of Lands Tuesday outlined its proposal for bidding on 522 cottage sites on Priest and Payette lakes, whose leases expire Dec. 31, 2013.
New lease terms would be made public by March 1, with an April 30 bidding deadline.
Challengers would deposit the first year's lease.
But another proposal -- to require challengers to post the appraised value of improvements upfront-- may be abandoned since it could discourage less-affluent challengers.
Idaho justices struck down a 1990 law protecting existing leaseholders after Attorney General Lawrence Wasden argued it dented endowment revenue that supports public schools.
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