Sandpoint P&Z recommends approval of fairgrounds lot subdivision

By Zach Hagadone
and Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

Local government watchers enjoyed a double-header on March 5, as both the Bonner County board of commissioners and Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commission took up the long-controversial issue of land boundaries at the Bonner County Fairgrounds and neighboring Sheriff’s Office Readiness Center.

Commissioner Asia Williams brought forward an agenda item during the regular BOCC business meeting that morning related to the platting of parcels that the council voted to rezone on Sept. 27, 2023. The controversy during the BOCC meeting stemmed from Sandpoint’s use of the word “subdivision” when describing the rezone.

“I do not recall the Bonner County board of commissioners making a decision to subdivide. I recall that there was a motion that passed to engage Sewell Engineering [James A. Sewell and Associates, LLC] for a boundary line adjustment,” said Williams, asking if there was somehow an additional meeting wherein the subdivision was approved. 

All parties testified that there was no such meeting. Williams then invited Sheriff Daryl Wheeler — a vocal opponent of the rezone, as he argued that the land should be dedicated to the creation of a justice services complex — to raise his concerns.

“What I’m saying is that the contract that was signed was for the rezone, not a subdivision of the property, and that whole process was concluded on the 27th of September… was this a new deal? Was this a new contract that had to be signed?” he asked, warning that any additional decisions made without public notice would be in violation of Idaho’s Open Meeting Law.

Williams then made the motion that, “Unless and until the board can show that the current application to subdivide the property referred to as the ‘Readiness Center’ was a decision made by the board, the board of county commissioners shall ask the city of Sandpoint to table their review and decision pending confirmation from Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office that the application was submitted in accordance with the rules that govern.” 

The motion died without a second.

Commission Chair Luke Omodt then said that he had reached out to the city of Sandpoint, “verifying that this is the completion of that project.”

“I spoke with the engineer — who’s been involved in all of these projects — yesterday to confirm and he explained that ‘subdivision’ is a technical term, and that this is the completion of this contract, and that we are under budget,” he added.

That evening, the Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on the county’s application for a three-lot subdivision of 59.11 acres, bounded by North Boyer Road to the east, Samuelson Avenue to the southwest, and private property to the north and south.

P&Z commissioners voted unanimously to recommend that the Sandpoint City Council grant preliminary approval of the subdivision of the parcels, but not before testimony touched on many of the issues discussed at that morning’s BOCC meeting.

Representing Bonner County as the owner-applicant, Omodt told P&Z commissioners that the issue has “been very contentious.”

The rezoned property at the Bonner County Fairgrounds and Sheriff’s Office Readiness Center, following a decision by City Council in September. Courtesy photo.

Though the push-and-pull dates back more than a year, the City Council approved the rezoning of the parcels in September. In addition, councilors granted an easement to Little Sand Creek, LLC — which is seeking to construct a 156-unit apartment complex immediately to the northwest — for construction of right-of-way west of the fairgrounds, on two acres previously used by the rodeo, in order to connect to Samuelson Avenue.

As a condition of approval for the rezone in September, the council required that unplatted property at the fairgrounds location be platted, creating lots that correspond to the new zoning district boundaries and dedicating Samuelson Avenue as public right-of-way — the latter which would clear the way for Little Sand Creek LLC’s development project.

Omodt said that the county recognized those conditions and was returning to the P&Z Commission with an application that “addresses the Saumuelson right-of-way; it adjusts the plat to take into account that the Bonner County Fairgrounds was never properly platted. It addresses the fact that on the northwest corner of the Sheriff’s Department property, there was some incorrect information. …

“The existing uses comply with what we are trying to achieve, and from our perspective, as the landowners or the custodians rather, of this property, this is preparing us to meet the next 50 years of use,” he said.

Wheeler testified in opposition to the application, reiterating the substance of his comments at that morning’s BOCC meeting, as well as repeating a claim he has often made that the subject property was “originally dedicated to the Sheriff’s Office.”

“We have a great need in this county to expand the Sheriff’s Office, possibly a courthouse in the future, and this would be detrimental to rezone and subdivide that property and actually take that two-something acres away [from the Sheriff’s Office] …,” he said. “You may know that we are required to be here in the county, in the city limits, and it will really tie our hands.”

In addition, Wheeler argued that “there’s been some problems about notification of this.”

“I missed the posting in the newspaper, but I saw the posting on the edge of the Sheriff’s Office property by the playground where there was a seven-day notice,” he added. “That was the first time that I recognized that this was even applied to. There’s been no communications with the other elected officials.”

Following that, Wheeler said that Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall “believes it does not meet the criteria [for public notice] and it would be a violation of Open Meeting Law,” concluding with the statement that he had asked the prosecutor “to provide a legal opinion” and appealed to the P&Z Commission to table any decision until that opinion could be given.

Omodt countered that the final plat and boundary line adjustment had been included in the work order contract, properly noticed and agendized on April 27.

“This work has been the intention of the board of Bonner County Commissioners, and yes it has been contentious, but it is our desire that this project moves forward,” he said.

In response to a question from P&Z Commissioner Ivan Rimar, City Attorney Zachary Jones said, “Our position is that this — at least with respect to what the city has done — has been properly noticed, and further that the representative from the county commissioners is the appropriate applicant in this matter. 

“And finally, this was a condition of the rezone. … And so this isn’t being rushed per se,” he added. “What’s going on at the county side, that’s kind of up to the county. We have a proper applicant here who is a member of the county commissioners, so it’s our position that this is all proceeding appropriately.”

Regarding the confusion over the terms “boundary line adjustment” and “subdivision” expressed at the BOCC meeting that morning, City Planner Amy Tweeten explained, “we don’t allow people to simply adjust lot lines. So in the county, often a lot line adjustment is referred to [as such]. But in the city, we call it platting.”  

What’s more, City Code requires that because the boundary line is being adjusted from the existing two-lot plat at the readiness center onto fairgrounds land that is currently unplatted, the city has to perform “what’s called a subdivision.”

“It sounds to me that if the application is complete and isn’t missing any boxes that needed to be checked, then it sounds like we have a duty to fulfill a condition of the original zoning change, approved by the City Council,” Commissioner Scott Torpie said, to which the other commissioners agreed.

The application now goes to the City Council for consideration.

Correction: The lede in the print version of this article misidentifies the Sandpoint City Council as having hosted the public hearing (which was also incorrectly stated to have taken place on March 6). It was the Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday, March 5. The online version has been corrected.