How the creation of a mountain bike park divided a community in North Idaho

May 20-Hidden in the forested hills just west of Lake Pend Oreille, a 170-acre plot of land, known as the Panhandle Bike Ranch, is gearing up to open on Memorial Day weekend.

From "First Rodeo" for novice riders to "Rated-R" for only the most experienced riders, the mountain bike park has a total of 11 trails running through it. Seven of which will open this weekend.

And while avid mountain bikers and downhill adrenaline seekers are thrilled for opening day, Panhandle Bike Ranch has drawn considerable ire from neighbors. Evidence of just how disgruntled some residents are can be found both online and on the roads that lead to Panhandle Bike Ranch.

On one side of the looping dirt road known as Five Lakes Estates, it's common to see a sign that reads "Stop the Sagle Bike Park." Many times, the word "park" is crossed out with red highlighter and replaced instead with the word "resort." On the other side of the road, a sign that says "Build the Bike Park" stands in contrast. This sort of split amongst neighbors can be found for miles and miles.

It's a stark dichotomy between neighbors who publicly denounce the dust, noise and safety concerns they say are stirred by the emergence of this new park and the neighbors who consider opponents of the park to be fighting a trivial brawl.

According to neighbors Kevin and Shawna Champlin, things have even gotten a bit "chippy." Kevin Champlin claims that supporters of the park have referred to them as "communists" and NIMBYS (not in my backyard supporters) on Facebook simply for speaking up. The Champlin's put up a Gadsden flag on their property, which features a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow background with the words "Don't Tread on Me." Because of that flag and how outspoken Shawna Champlin has been at county commissioner meetings, supporters of the park gave her the nickname "Don't Tread on Me Shawna Champlin," which she said is more mild than some of the name calling.

Mary Miller, another neighbor who opposes Panhandle Bike Ranch, said she's had to kick trespassers off her land because of the new bike park. In one instance, Miller said trespassers retaliated by throwing bike stickers into her horse pasture. She said the determined trespassers had to go through a fence, over a strip of land and across a stream to get into the pasture.

"If my horse ate one (sticker), now I've got a horse with colic, and I've got a $1,000 vet bill, if I can save my horse," Miller said. "So their disregard for the neighborhood. I've had them throw garbage in our yard. They don't care about safety for people, animals, anything."

"Definitely not the community," Shawna Champlin added. "When they say community park, they mean everything but this community."

"They mean the bike community," Mary Miller said.

Miller and the Champlin's said people have littered, driven way too fast past their homes and flipped the bird at numerous security cameras they recently had installed. Although Kevin Champlin is a strong opponent, he admitted that Panhandle Bike Ranch has seen their fair share of trespassers and even people stealing "Build the Bike Park" signs off their property.

Jen Kalbach, the owner of Panhandle Bike Ranch, said she and her husband, Scott, moved from Utah to Sagle in 2024 and started a bike park in hopes that it would one day become self sustainable. As of September, they officially transitioned to a nonprofit organization with the mission of connecting the community to the outdoors through mountain biking, camps, lessons and designated community days.

"A park, by definition, is a noncommercial facility designed to serve the recreational needs of the residents of the community," Jen Kalbach said. "I think we fit that definition perfectly."

Kalbach said they're in litigation with Bonner County to be recognized as a nonprofit park. Their website said the Bonner County planning director denied their park classification because they charge fees, which the planning director said falls under "commercial activity." The Kalbachs rebuke this claim, saying the Bonner County code defines "commercial activity" as "a business use involving retail or wholesale marketing of goods and services."

The Kalbachs believe the county is ignoring the words in their own code and creating definitions that don't exist in law, according to their website. Under that same logic, the Kalbachs argue that Girl Scout camps and the Bonner General Hospital would be "commercial" too.

"When we bought and built the bike park, our minds were like, 'Oh, let's build this cool bike park, kind of donate it to the community, and have an operation here that supports itself," Kalbach said.

Kalbach said they have free programs during the summer, including evening rides for women, veteran ride days for active military, veterans and gold star families in the area with lunch, bikes and lessons included.

They're also working to set up a scholarship fund that would raise money for kids in the area who can't afford to go to Panhandle Bike Ranch and then provide those kids with the equipment they need, whether that's a shuttle ride to the top or a mountain bike to borrow for the day.

Kalbach said all the money they get from donations goes back into trail maintenance, running the shuttle, paying their 12 or so employees and their free summer programs.

When a person books an online reservation at the park, a suggested donation of $60 appears onscreen. This amount cannot be changed on the website, but Kalbach said if a person can't afford it, then they should contact them to figure something out.

The Kalbachs - who own a tech company based in Utah called Avant Link - explained the bike park is not meant to be a money maker. Rather they value preserving the land by keeping it from being subdivided while simultaneously encouraging outdoor recreation through mountain biking.

And even though they're only open on the weekends from now until about the second week of October, paying employees and maintaining all the trails they have across 170 acres costs a considerable amount of money. Which is why they need donations to keep the dream alive.

Last year, they operated on a limited invite-only basis. This year, they've made it so interested mountain bikers have to register online ahead of time before showing up. A gate at the bottom of the mountain prevents anyone who doesn't have a code from entering the property.

In June of last year, the Kootenai County District Court Judge Casey Simmons found that Bonner County erred in granting the Panhandle Bike Ranch exceptions to local zoning rules that would allow the operation of what was then a pay-to-play mountain bike park.

The decision came in response to the group of opponents who challenged the county's 2024 approval of a conditional use permit for the park. Simmons ruled that Bonner County did not provide enough evidence in its decision to approve the park. So, she vacated the permit and asked the county to take a second look. The project's operating permit got revoked just 10 days before they were set to open.

According to Panhandle Bike Ranch's website, once they restructured into a nonprofit they discovered that they qualify as a "park" under county code, which means they don't require special permitting.

Miller, one of the opponents to Panhandle Bike Ranch, disagreed and claims they still need a conditional use permit to operate as a nonprofit park.

A spokesperson for the Bonner County commissioners said commissioners were unwilling to comment on whether the park needs a permit.

Virginia Retford, 85, said she's one of two families with property adjacent to Panhandle Bike Ranch. She's lived on her property since 2005 and said her "reaction was terrible" when she first learned about the bike park being built.

But once she got to know Kalbachs and their two sons, she realized they were a "beautiful family" who were "trying to create something that'll be a good and wonderful thing for people of all ages to go bike."

Her 40-year-old son traversed up and down the trails last summer upon the Kalbachs' invite and liked it so much that he plans on going back. This time, he plans on bringing his teenage son with him. Retford's son explained to her that most people who mountain bike are good and respectful people. Since there's no motorized vehicles allowed in Panhandle Bike Ranch and interested visitors must register online and receive a code to open the gate to the park, Retford doesn't believe the park will foster any sort of ruffians or be a home to criminal activity. She said the Kalbachs have done a good job and will continue to do a good job of keeping people driving around at reasonable speeds and ensuring the area remains safe.

"I think there are some people on that (Five Lakes Estates) loop that will protest and carry on until they pass away," Retford said. "I'm probably the second oldest person on the loop, so if I think it's a good deal, it's a good deal."

As for the dust stirred from people venturing to Panhandle Bike Ranch, Retford said people who live on a dirt road will need to accept that there will be dust in their yards. Opponents like Miller and the Champlin's claim that at least 50 additional vehicles on any given weekend day travel up and down their dirt road, which is far more than what it once was.

Of the 10 or so neighbors along the Five Lakes Estates loop, Retford said she can think of four families that actually oppose the park. Meanwhile, Mary Miller and the Champlin's claim that more than 90% of the people in the area, including folks living beyond Five Lakes Estates, oppose the creation of the bike park. The Champlins and Miller said they aren't anti-mountain biking, they just don't think their neighborhood is the right fit.

"Just on a human level, if I were going to buy property for a mountain bike park, and I was driving through a nice little neighborhood, and I saw the mountain, I'd go, "Wow, this mountain would be sweet," Miller said. "My next sentence would be, 'Too bad it's going through a residential neighborhood. We best keep looking.' Where does just human decency come in and go, 'We can't do that?' "

Even with the opposition and apparent ambiguity surrounding the legal status of the park, Panhandle Bike Ranch will open this Friday. For now, Kalbach said they are focused on getting Bonner County to recognize them as a nonprofit park.

"I like my privacy," Retford said. "I'm a senior citizen. I love my quiet and peace, and I was afraid a bike park would really disturb it. The neighbors were all going crazy, but after I analyzed the situation, I realized it was a good thing to do for the community."

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