Port Dads to Buy Cabin for Boyer

Using insurance money from a damaged trailer park formerly at Boyer Park and Marina, the Port of Whitman County is going to site a log cabin for overnight stays at the park.

Port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday, Feb. 2, authorized executive director Joe Poire to pursue the purchase of the cabin.

High winds in November of 2010 damaged a mobile home that had been used to house workers at the park. The roof was ripped off, leaving the building destroyed. Workers now stay in the apartment-style unit of the Almota Inn hotel.

Enduris, the port’s insurance agency, offered to pay about $17,000 to fix or replace the building. Poire said the time limit to spend that money is soon running out.

Rather than lose it, he proposed a cabin that could be rented out to campers.

Boyer is run by the port through a lease agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns and developed the park. The port leases out day-to-day operations to Dave Peterson.

Preliminary surveys of cabins range from $7,000 for a 10-foot by 14-foot unit, or $10,000 for a 14-by-20 cabin. Transportation and on-site construction should add another $5,000 to $6,000 to the cost, said Poire.

Port commissioners unanimously directed port staff to begin the process of buying the cabin and permitting its construction.

Poire said the time it will take to process building permits from the county and the Corps of Engineers could mean the cabin won’t get built until the summer of 2013.