Workshop focused on future of City Beach RV park

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

A capacity crowd filled the community room of the James E. Russell Sports Center for a public workshop Dec. 13 looking at future uses for the two-acre RV park site at Sandpoint City Beach.

More than 60 people participated in the 90-minute gathering, which featured a presentation, small-group discussions and an exercise in which attendees worked together at tables armed with pens and paper to envision how the property could — or should — be used.

Facilitated by Sandpoint Planning and Development Director Jason Welker, alongside members of the Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Committee, the workshop, described as “envisioning the future of our public waterfront property,” was intended to “directly inform future council decisions,” Welker said.

The workshop followed a City Council meeting Nov. 5, during which Whitefish, Mont.-based Averill Hospitality Group pressed Sandpoint to hold off on plans to renovate the RV park with a state grant of about $1 million, and instead lease or sell the property to the company, which is planning to build a 130-room luxury resort hotel across Bridge Street. 

Councilors voted to reject that request and appealed to the community for more input on how it would like to see the park developed, launching a survey at sandpointidaho.gov/rvparksurvey, which remained open as of press time.

The presentation on Dec. 13 included responses to the survey, which at the time had garnered more than 400 participants. That number rose to more than 900 responses by Dec. 15, with the option of renovating the RV park receiving the highest ranking across the board.

The renovated RV park option received more than 25,000 overall points — based on a range of rankings from 1-10 by respondents — followed by community event space, with about 15,000 points; then multi-use open lawn/green space with a playground; food truck court; and winter ice rink/summer sport area, all with between about 13,000 and 14,000 points.

Welker said the central theme of open-ended responses was to “preserve public access and community benefit,” with other common themes being caution against seeking revenue over access and character, retaining the open and scenic nature of City Beach, and wariness of development intensity. 

Other responses wanted to preserve flexibility at the site, also calling for transparency and a phased approach while avoiding pursuing irreversible changes.

Some attendees of the Dec. 13 workshop wondered if it was worth taking the state grant knowing that it comes with a 25-year commitment to “public park purposes” — and any changes to such use would require the city to pay back the money.

Welker said the city spends about $25,000 per year operating the RV park, and net revenue from the site following redevelopment is estimated at more than $100,000 annually.

However, Averill Hospitality previously stated that retaining the RV park would make its development “unviable.” At the Dec. 13 workshop, owner-operator Brian Averill told attendees that his company would contribute to offset the cost of redeveloping the site — though not as an RV park. 

“We’re here to help — not try to lease, not to buy,” he said.

Averill’s local company representative Ben McGrann later added that the hotel would pay about $1 million alone in occupancy tax to the city, not to mention revenues from property tax.

“Think about the public benefit, not necessarily the revenue generation,” he said.

To that, Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Taylor Long pointed out that Averill has owned the hotel site for three years, and asked “what have you done for the community in that time?” Long received no response, and Welker moved the discussion along.

The Parks and Rec. Commission will meet Wednesday, Jan. 14 to review the results of community feedback and receive public comment with the intent to present a formal recommendation to the council. The meeting is scheduled for 2:30 P.M. in City Council chambers (1123 Lake St.).