Early City Beach RV park design comes in $1M over budget

Sandpoint officials looking at how to cut project costs or seek further funding

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Redeveloping the City Beach RV park will be more challenging than initially thought, after preliminary design and engineering estimates came in far higher than expected.

Sandpoint Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker presented a 35% design, cost estimate and funding strategy to the City Council on Sept. 2 that showed a $1.84 million base cost, while the available construction budget totals $830,000.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush. You can see the headline right there,” Welker said, referring to a presentation slide showing the preliminary site plan map for the park.

“So, obviously, we’re a little high,” he later added.

The submittal from HMH Engineering delivered to the city on Aug. 31 was based on “all the things the community said they would like to see in the RV park through our community engagement, through our meetings with the Parks and Rec. Commission, the Technical Advisory Group, feedback from the public — and that’s what we got to,” Welker said.

Based on those elements, the initial design included a two-restroom, two-shower facility, 18 RV sites, two tent sites, a new drive aisle and resurfacing. 

However, costs have risen considerably since 2024, when discussions began surrounding reconstructing and improving the RV park, which the city obtained in a land swap for the grassy area in front of the currently proposed Averill Hospitality hotel project across Bridge Street to the north.

“Things are not cheap anymore. I don’t know if they ever were, but they’re definitely less affordable in 2026,” Welker said.

Subterranean infrastructure alone — including new sewer and water lines — ran into the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Welker lined out the costs, noting that $401,000 would be needed for earthwork; $262,000 for electrical; and $250,000 for sewer and water. The shower and restroom facility alone totaled $285,000, and that’s not counting landscaping, irrigation, furnishings, fencing and other features.

“So, getting within budget will require real scope decisions and value engineering, not simply trimming,” Welker said.

Accomplishing that will require close collaboration with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, which provided about 95% of the funding for the project through a grant.

Welker said city officials are due to meet with IDPR representatives on Tuesday, Sept. 8, when they’ll present the state with “credible engineered choices at multiple funding levels,” with the intention of “prioritiz[ing] a coherent, buildable project.”

Part of that will be suggesting cost savings that can be achieved without reducing the overall intended use of the site as an RV park, but, “Will we be able to shave a million dollars off of this project and still retain the original objectives of the RV park? The answer is obviously ‘no,’” Welker said. “There’s no way we could do an RV park with two restrooms and two showers for under $835,000 at this point. So there will be some cuts, but the requirement might not be to reduce it by a million dollars.”

Rather, he added, it’s possible that IDPR may make additional funds available through another round of grants, cost-cutting may make it more feasible to move a portion of the city’s own capital improvement funds into the project or a combination of those options could keep the redevelopment effort on its anticipated schedule for late-2026 and early-2027 construction.

However, if another round of grant applications are required it would push the project out another year and likely mean an additional city match.

“I wish I could come in and say, look, we’re going to get everything we wanted for exactly what we asked for from the state two years ago. But I’d estimate that inflation alone has probably driven the cost of this project up by $200,000 since 2024,” Welker said. “So, it’s a tough situation to be in, but I just wanted to present it to you guys for full transparency and let you know that we’re going to do everything we can to get this project built.”

A further update on the project is expected either at the next regular City Council meeting or shortly thereafter.