Workshop presented on proposed downtown zone changes
September 16, 2026
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
About 30 downtown business owners, operators and interested citizens gathered Sept. 15 with Sandpoint city officials for an update regarding an ongoing zoning code update — specifically in the historic downtown core.
Speaking to attendees at the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, City Planner Bill Dean said members of citizen committees and the Planning and Zoning Commission have been working on code revisions for the past 14 months, and are nearing the point when a finished ordinance can be proposed.
“This is an assignment given to me on Day 1, when I arrived here, and I take it very seriously,” he said. “I want to get it right for you.”
Current planning efforts related to downtown zoning stem from the Sandpoint Comprehensive Plan, which was adopted in 2024 and identifies several goals, including “strengthening economic vitality, reinforcing community character, enhancing placemaking, supporting historic preservation, improving walkability and guiding urban form.”
Participants gather at the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint for a workshop hosted by the city of Sandpoint on Sept. 15. Photo by Zach Hagadone
City planners have been working with P&Z and the Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation Commission to craft new commercial zoning regulations that simultaneously work to preserve the historic nature of downtown while encouraging what Dean described as a more “true mixed-use core” that includes expanded residential.
“What City Council has said is, ‘Look, we’re afraid that we’re going to experience change as a community, and some of that change might not fit with the things we’ve collectively agreed on are special about this place. We’d like to have some better tools in the toolbox to preserve it,” Dean said. “Well, that’s where zoning comes into play.”
Attendees at the workshop asked a number of questions, including regarding height restrictions, which Dean said are proposed at a cap of 40 feet within the downtown historic district overlay. In addition, workshop participants wondered if historic preservation requirements would apply to interior building design elements, to which Dean responded, “This is about exterior modifications, to keep the exteriors looking the way they do.”
“[P]art of what these rules establish are a baseline standard that awnings, windows and exterior modifications are going to go through in a review process, so that our grandkids and our great-grandkids can expect to see the same type of environment that you see today,” he added. “It doesn’t mean you can’t do exterior modifications — it just means that you go through a review process.”
The proposed downtown commercial zoning code changes will again be presented at an open house from 12:30-5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the Sandpoint Community Hall (204 First. Ave.), followed by their first public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20 before the P&Z Commission in City Hall Council Chambers (1123 Lake St.).
At that point, planning commissioners will make a recommendation to the City Council, which is expected to hand down a final decision in December.
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