COEUR d'ALENE - Compromise will play a key role in bringing a mixed-use development to Coeur d'Alene's midtown.

The Coeur d'Alene City Council hosted a public workshop Tuesday that brought representatives from all the organizations with a stake in the future development together for a discussion.

The proposed three-story building, with retail space on the ground floor and two levels of workforce housing, is the result of a collaborative effort between the Lake City Development Corp. and The Housing Company, a Boise-based nonprofit which facilitates the development of affordable housing throughout the state.

Gregg Johnson, who represented the Midtown Neighborhood Association during the workshop, told the officials gathered that his group would like to see the area become a mixture of retail space and owner-occupied condominiums. The association has gathered 150 signatures from business owners and residents of midtown that he said all feel as though the project could ruin the efforts and investments that have been made in the area.

"I think that the project has forgotten the neighborhood," Johnson said. "It's forgotten what this neighborhood is all about and it's just not the right fit."

Johnson asked several other questions, which were fielded by LCDC Executive Director Tony Berns and Kathryn Almberg, housing development officer for The Housing Company.

However, when Johnson asked just what his group needed to do in order for the project to be postponed, it was LCDC Board Member Mic Armon who spoke.

"What we're doing here today is listening, where most other developers probably would not. They would just decide that this is the way they want the project and do it," Armon said. "What I'm hearing is that you want input on the project and we are here trying to do that."

After further discussion on the particulars of the project, Councilwoman Kiki Miller asked what the council's role is in the final decision making on the development. Multiple city officials responded that the city has no legal say in whether or not the mixed-use building goes forward.

"There has to be some kind of a compromise," Councilman Ron Edinger said, addressing those with a stake in the project. "What you need to do is work out a compromise of some kind because there's really not a heck of a lot we can do as a council."