Squatters, people living illegally on someone else's land, have long been a problem near Lion's Park west of Hailey. Now, the city, which owns land in the area and has an easement on private property there, is trying to evict the squatters once and for all.
The evictions coincide with improvements planned for the area, the most immediate being the Draper Croy Creek Boadwalk, a joint undertaking of the Wood River Land Trust, the city of Hailey and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
"If we're going to have a boardwalk down there, I guess having a homeless camp down there isn't what you want to have," Hailey Public Works Director Tom Hellen said.
Squatters haven't been living recently on property slated for the boardwalk, which will provide public access into wetlands along the Big Wood River south of Lion's Park. However, their close proximity to the boardwalk and the prospect this summer of increased public presence in the area has prompted the city to take seriously potential liabilities should an unfortunate incident occur involving the public and a squatter.
Several squatters have lived in small tents or shacks in the area this spring. Only two remained when city police started rousting them out earlier this month. One of them was Richard Lee Grace, a man commonly known as Birddog, who has lived along the river on other people's property off and on for years.
Boardwalk
The boardwalk project will be built this summer "as soon as the water goes down," said Land Trust Executive Director Scott Boettger.
The project, about half on Land Trust property and half on city property, will start just south of the Lion's Park baseball field and extend into the 84-acre Draper Wood River Preserve. Boettger said the project will involve about 500 feet of packed gravel on drier land and about 500 feet of boardwalk extending into wetlands of the preserve.
"The neat thing about it is you get that visual experience of the water and the wetlands and the wildlife," Boettger said. "What this does is allow you to experience the wetlands firsthand. I think this is going to be a great place to go."
He said the boardwalk is intended to be a "community asset" to help draw visitors to the area. Eventually, he said, the Land Trust would like to extend the boardwalk even farther into the preserve.
Boettger said the project will cost about $200,000, split between the DEQ and the Land Trust.
Boettger made it clear that the Land Trust was not involved in the decision to remove squatters from the area.
"We're certainly not a part of trying to get anybody excluded or kicked off the city lands," he said.
Squatters
Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter said the major concern to the city is the fact that some of the squatters who frequent the area have criminal backgrounds.
According to police, a recent inhabitant of the area is John Bennett, a 45-year-old homeless who has convictions in Blaine County for petit theft, DUI, criminal trespass, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful weapons discharge.
Another man who has lived in the area within the last year is Craig S. Moeller, 46, who has served prison time for battering a police officer, police said.
Grace, who court records state was born in 1957, hasn't been charged with any crimes in recent years, but the Blaine County Sheriff's Office investigated an allegation in 2007 that he attacked and battered a Hailey man near Lion's Park.
According to Blaine County court records, Grace was charged in 1992 with three counts of rape and in 1993 with domestic battery. All the charges were later dismissed, but court records state that Grace spent time in a mental institution as part of a court settlement on the rape allegations.
Gunter said Grace peacefully left the Lion's Park area last week. He said Grace apparently had help moving his A-frame shack but he didn't know who helped him move or where he had been relocated. He said the remaining squatter will be removed this week.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
This photograph was taken in 2008 of a deluxe squatter dwelling in the Lion’s Park area west of Hailey. The city of Hailey is now trying to rid the area of squatters once and for all. Photo by Willy Cook
