SANDPOINT — City staff will be seeking permission to solicit bids for Travers Park playground and splash pad construction from the city council at its Wednesday meeting.

Staff will also be seeking approval of a change order and amendment to an agreement with Ginno Construction for the construction of the playground in order to address unforeseen contract changes, resulting in a new guaranteed maximum price. These changes include the enlargement of a garage door to accommodate future maintenance equipment, and addition of asphalt paving on an existing pathway to comply with ADA accessibility requirements, among a few other changes. The previously approved contract amount was $7,283,339.35, while the new amount would be $7,370,040.50. The project has been budgeted for with funds from the James E. Russell Family Donation and the city’s Parks CIP budget. 

The council will also consider approval of taxi licensing for a new taxi business, Panhandle Ride-Share, operating in city limits.

Other agenda items will include a second amendment to a Pend Oreille Pedalers Watershed Trails License Agreement. The agreement offers POP a non-exclusive license to construct, maintain, and utilize city of Sandpoint property located in the Little Sand Creek Watershed for purposes of mountain biking and inclusive of other multi-use single-track trail users. The amendment is to provide POP an additional $75,000 reimbursement amount to be funded with water utility funds from revenues generated from watershed timber sales, city officials said on an agenda request form. These funds are to be used toward the mitigation of erosion and drainage as identified in the 2019 Watershed Management Plan.

The council is also expected to approve a memorandum of understanding between city of Sandpoint and Selkirk Recreation District for a non-exclusive agreement to fund, design, construct, maintain, and utilize city of Sandpoint property located in the Little Sand Creek Watershed.

Council members will also consider a reduced sidewalk in-lieu fee. When a property owner is required to construct a new sidewalk across their property frontage, code allows them to instead pay the in-lieu fee based on the width of their public street frontage. This fee was created to avoid the construction of new sidewalks across single lots that did not connect to any existing sidewalk on either side, sometimes referred to as “sidewalks to nowhere.” Funds from the fees are placed into a dedicated fund based on the “public land survey system” quarter section, and any fees must be spent within the same quarter section where the property is located. The reduction would take the fee from $144 to $60. This change has been recommended for a variety of reasons, including that the current fee costs three times as much as a sidewalk, which incentivized property owners to build “sidewalks to nowhere,” accomplishing the opposite of what the program was designed for.

Adjustments to city code are also expected to be made to accommodate the recently revived citizen advisory committees. 

This meeting will take place Wednesday, May 1, at Sandpoint City Hall, 1123 Lake St., starting at 5:30 p.m. The public can attend in person or online at sandpointidaho.gov.