Parking plan moving forward with business outreach

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Sandpoint City Hall is moving forward with the development of its new parking management plan, with March described as “business outreach month.”

Community Planning and Development Director Jason Welker told the City Council on March 5 that he and Public Works Director Holly Ellis will present the plan to the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce at its monthly meeting Thursday, March 13 at Marigold Bistro (414 Church St.). Following that, Welker said he plans to schedule a special meeting with the Downtown Business Association membership Thursday, March 20 in the council chambers at 1123 Lake St., with a presentation and discussion about how the plan could best serve downtown merchants.

The latest draft plan considers combining the downtown business employee and downtown resident passes; extending time limits at City Beach for resident passholders; and extending the all-day street parking zone “to incentivize downtown employees to leave scarce First, Second and Third Avenue two-hour and three-hour stalls available for downtown shoppers.”

A rendering of Averill Hospitality’s proposed new hotel facility adjacent to Sandpoint City Beach. Image courtesy of Oz Architecture

Welker said he’s also drafted a survey that will be distributed to the public through a variety of sources, including mailers, paper surveys and an online form. That effort is scheduled to take place before the end of March.

Meanwhile, Welker addressed paid parking at City Beach, telling the council, “This is by no means the first time that paid parking at City Beach has been explored.”

Citing a news article from 1982, a group of Sandpoint residents proposed a taxing district to include county residents in order to pay for parks and recreation facilities in the city. 

“Bonner County residents overwhelmingly rejected the opportunity to help pay for city recreation infrastructure and here we are 43 years later,” Welker said.

In the intervening decades, user fees have been considered for City Beach as well, though those also failed because of the perception that up to four employees would be needed for enforcement.

“Today is not 1982,” Welker said, adding that “frictionless virtual enforcement systems” are now available that would not involve the need for staffing.

“We are looking for a technology solution here that doesn’t involve human enforcement; a solution that allows Bonner County residents and tourists and visitors from other states and other countries to help contribute to the infrastructure that for 50 years we’ve known needs additional funding mechanisms,” he said.

City Beach came up again at the March 5 meeting, when Averill Hospitality representative Ben McGrann used his three minutes of public testimony to provide a brief update on the proposed resort hotel on the current site of the Best Western Edgewater adjacent to the beach.

Pointing to “site challenges” encountered by Averill’s development team, the company has “refined our design and carefully considered public feedback,” McGrann said.

“As a result, we have adjusted the project scope,” he added. “The hotel is now planned to feature 99 hotel rooms and approximately 31 independently owned units participating in a hotel-managed rental program for a total of 130 rooms.”

McGrann noted that the new plan calls for 51 fewer rooms than originally envisioned when the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the conditional use permit for the development in July 2024.

The downsized proposal would so far not affect the event space, wellness spa, restaurant or lakeside bar, while McGrann suggested that projected tax revenue from employment at the resort hotel would remain the same, as the rental units “are expected to offer a wider range of accommodations and higher nightly rates.”

Further, McGrann said Averill is planning for 145 on-site parking spaces in a two-story structure west of the development along Sandpoint Avenue and Dock Street.

“We understand the public concerns about our hotel guests using City Beach parking, and we are confident that our on-site parking will adequately serve nightly guests and visitors,” he said, adding that if more parking is needed due to a wedding or other event on a busy summer weekend, Averill is working with private businesses to secure other parking spaces and plans to provide a hotel-owned shuttle service for attendees.

“Our parking plans do not include City Beach,” McGrann said.

Averill plans to break ground this summer, with an anticipated opening in the summer of 2027. A new website is in the works to provide more information and public updates.