City to host open house on Comp Plan, Multimodal Transportation Master Plan

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Residents who want to put in their two cents regarding the city’s ongoing update to its Comprehensive Plan will have their chance Thursday, April 27 at an open house hosted from 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. in Meeting Room B of the East Bonner County Library’s Sandpoint branch (1407 Cedar St.).

The full draft Comp Plan can be reviewed and commented upon digitally at plan.konveio.com/sandpoint-draft-comprehensive-plan, and is open for public comment through Sunday, May 7. In-person attendees are invited to drop in to the open house at any time during the April 27 event.

The 132-page draft document is intended to serve as “our community’s plan for the physical development of Sandpoint” and “guide Sandpoint’s development and growth patterns for the next 20 years,” according to the introduction.

Sandpoint last updated its Comp Plan in 2009 and amended it in 2019. The update had been underway in 2019, but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. As conditions have gradually stabilized following the easing and eventual end of virus-related restrictions, the city has completed and refined a wide range of studies and master plans intended to inform the larger Comp Plan effort, which establishes goals and objectives guiding land use regulations — including zoning — strategic plans and the city budget.

In addition to providing a roadmap for Sandpoint’s growth and development, the Comp Plan also covers the area of city impact, which encompasses approximately 12 square miles southwest to Dover, west to base of the Selkirk Mountains and northeast to the Ponderay city limits. The ACI designates land outside the city limits that may be annexed in the future, and therefore should be considered in the long-range Comp Plan.

Also at the April 27 open house, the city will feature the Multimodal Transportation Master Plan, including a proposed amendment to the long-term “East-West Connection” concept, which envisions a number of potential roadway realignments, intersection and signal changes, and altered drive lane directions on U.S. Highway 2, North Ella Avenue, North and South Boyer avenues, Fifth Avenue and Cedar Street, Pine Street, First Avenue and Superior Street. 

Specifically, the City Council will consider amending the concept at its regular Wednesday, May 3 meeting to include an access point off U.S. 2 to South Boyer Avenue in order to provide a north-south connection across the highway. However, that route would run directly through the property occupied by Dub’s Drive-In, which the city voted to acquire for $380,000 in February. 

In the meantime, current owners Marty and Jeralyn Mire are leasing the property back from the city and subleasing it to new owners, who will operate the business at its present location until such time as the city needs to use the property.

The East-West Connection concept is sometimes referred to as “the Couplet,” because it includes a new highway alignment connecting U.S. 2 directly to the intersection of Fifth and Cedar via two one-way southbound lanes traveling along the Sandpoint-Dover pathway and funneling into a new intersection east of North Boyer and Pine.

That part of the concept has riled many community members, resulting in months of sometimes heated debate about the scale — or even necessity — of many of the potential changes.

Only the amendment related to U.S. 2 access on South Boyer Avenue will be under consideration May 3 by the City Council, though the full Multimodal Transportation Master Plan — which was adopted in May 2021 — can be viewed at sandpointidaho.gov by clicking on the “Master Plans” button on the left side of the webpage. 

To view a map of the area subject to the proposed amendment (identified as Fig. 23), as well as other figures representing the East-West Connection concept, look under Appendix A “Networks, Corridors and Improvement Concepts” of the master plan, directly accessible at bit.ly/3ZYzMA4.

Meanwhile, email comments to [email protected].