City Council set to decide on City Beach RV park redevelopment
January 28, 2026
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
The Sandpoint City Council is poised to make a decision regarding the City Beach RV park at its Wednesday, Feb. 4 meeting, following a recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission to pursue an almost $1 million state grant for planned renovations at the site.
Parks and Rec. commissioners voted 7-1 at their Jan. 14 meeting to apply $950,000 from the Idaho State Department of Parks and Recreation to improve the existing RV park south of Bridge Street and west of City Beach. The city’s Parks Capital Improvement Fund would contribute a further $50,000 to the project.
The recommendation came after months of deliberation and public debate over what to do with the property, which often butted up against the wishes of Averill Hospitality — the Whitefish, Mont.-based company that is developing a luxury resort hotel across Bridge Street to the north.
According to a building permit application submitted by TVA Architects on Dec. 29, 2025, the five-story, approximately 226,000-square-foot hotel will include “162 guest keys” with construction valued at $57 million at the current site of the Best Western Edgewater adjacent to City Beach.
An aerial view of the RV Park adjacent to Sandpoint City Beach. Photo courtesy of city of Sandpoint
Averill owners and representatives have repeatedly expressed their desire to see the RV park redeveloped in such a way that it will not detract from the experience of future hotel guests. The company has gone so far as to repeat that if the site remains an RV park, its development would be “unviable,” and has offered to contribute financially to converting the property into any number of other uses — from parking to multi-use facilities to a food truck court.
The question of whether to use state funding to improve the existing RV park, partner with Averill for an unspecified use or pursue other alternatives was the subject of a community workshop on Dec. 13, which drew more than 60 participants and informed by a survey conducted by the city that garnered just over 900 responses. Retaining and improving the RV park scored highest across all categories.
Sandpoint Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker told Parks and Rec. commissioners that the RV park currently grosses about $110,000 a year and nets around $80,000 in revenue, which goes back to the Parks Capital Improvement Fund. Going forward with the state grant would mean the site has to remain an RV park for 25 years.
Averill officials had stated that the company would contribute an amount equal to those revenue numbers if the site could be redeveloped away from RV park use, though no official offer has been made, and many members of the public were skeptical of yoking public property development to a private company.
“I mean, the survey results were pretty clear, and whether that’s a visceral reaction to a developer or not, I do think they were pretty clear that the community does not want to be beholden to that revenue source depending on a private entity,” Parks and Rec. Commission Chair Taylor Long said at the Jan. 14 meeting.
The Sandpoint City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. at Sandpoint City Hall Council Chambers (1123 Lake St.). To attend the meeting remotely, go to sandpointidaho.gov, click on “Calendar/Meetings,” select the Feb. 4 meeting and follow the directions to log in via Zoom.
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