At a meeting Wednesday night, the Sandpoint City Council moved to amend the city’s code on wastewater management and approved a resolution to support the expansion of a community resource center.

The wastewater amendment, which passed unanimously, was necessary to better align the city with state and federal laws, said Public Works Director Amanda Wilson.

The ordinance pertains specifically to industrial users and requires them to obtain wastewater permits, meet certain standards for pretreatment prior to wastewater reaching the city treatment plant and submit regular reports.

“Basically what we’re trying to do is address significant industrial users before we see any of their discharge from their facility,” Wilson said.

“Significant industrial users” include users who average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of processed wastewater into the system, or contributes a waste stream that makes up 5% or more of the average dry level hydraulic capacity of the treatment center, or is designated as such by the city when it has a reasonable potential to adversely affect the wastewater treatment plant, Wilson said.

The city also moved to approve a letter of support for the Sandpoint Community Resource Center expansion as a Federal Urban Housing Development.

The move would allow SCRC to offer more services in one location, said SCRC Executive Director Linnis Jellinek.

Many of the residents SCRC serves are the working poor who could be sent into a financial spiral by one unexpected bill, Jellinek said.

The center is also serving more people due to COVID-19, she said.

The center helps people regain self-sufficiency, she said, but often there is an added barrier for people who seek help because the resources SCRC provides are located at different locations.

“We lose those people,” she said. “The best time to help someone is when they’re right in front of you.”

The designation would allow SCRC to provide more resources in one space, Jellinek said, but it would not impact the organization’s nonprofit status nor make it into a government agency, she said.

“We’re going to hopefully get under one roof, and all of them will participate but not all the time,” she said.

The council also heard a presentation from Siraj Asfahani at the Lakota Group on initial research into Sandpoint residents’ views on future development for the Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation Master Plan.

Most residents already see Sandpoint as an arts destination, Asfahani said, but thought there is room for more performing arts like dance, music and theater.

Further, many of the buildings identified for historic preservation were identified downtown, he said. One potential move to ensure their preservation might be a financial incentive for building owners.

“There isn’t much protection [for the buildings],” Asfahani said. “It would be recommended to provide some financial incentive for them to be able to maintain their buildings and also improve.”