Council approves three-year lease with Human Rights Education Institute for historic park building after lengthy debate

The Coeur d'Alene City Council on July 15 approved a three-year lease with the Human Rights Education Institute (HREI) that allows the nonprofit to continue using the historic brick building at 414 West Fort Grounds Drive in City Park.

Council members voted 4–3 to approve the lease as presented and directed city staff to study the building’s highest-and-best uses during the three-year term. The vote came after more than an hour of public comment and council discussion about unpaid rents, documented capital improvements and restrictions on the parcel’s use under federal land patents.

The building sits along the boundary of Lots 48 and 49 in City Park and carries a complex ownership and use history. City staff told council the parcel was the subject of an 1904 Act of Congress and a 1967 land patent that limit uses to park and recreational purposes unless the city obtains approval from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has administered related approvals in the past, city staff said.

City staff presented the proposed lease terms as negotiated with HREI. Staff said HREI has historically received credits to offset rent for capital improvements; records show a documented credit of $149,574.42 approved in a 2007 amendment that staff said offset…