SANDPOINT — Mayor Jeremy Grimm broke two tie votes to move forward with the design phase of the Downtown Revitalization Phase No. 3 at the City Council’s Wednesday meeting.

The vote to move forward with a contract with Welch Comer to design the third phase was split 3-3 with council president Deb Ruehle, councilors Justin Dick and Rick Howarth voting in favor while Joel Aispuro, Kyle Schreiber and Pam Duquette dissented. Schreiber led the charge in favor of slowing the process after expressing concerns about the scope and price of the project. 

Schreiber said he’d like to see the contract tabled and removal of the east side of the streets as the buildings do not come up to the property line and would not benefit from the majority of the improvements. Grimm said often developers look for a design before they make improvements, like bringing a building up to the property line. 

"My concern is that we are spending money to do design work for properties that don’t fit our zoning,” Schreiber said.  

This phase is set to run on First Avenue from Church Street to Lake Street, according to Erik Bush, project manager for the city. The project is set to widen sidewalks, improve street furniture and landscaping, provide parking upgrades, address stormwater treatment issues and bring more public art installations.  

“Our intent is pretty much to have the same aesthetic model and structure we have in phase one and phase two, with some design and material improvements,” Bush said. “Not wholesale changes, just modifications and improvements.” 

In this phase, Bush said the city does not have enough funds to reconstruct the stormwater outfalls into Sand Creek, but it sets the city up for success. Schreiber said he’d rather use SURA funds to address that issue than street beautification. 

“I think there is an appetite in our community for actual pipes and pavement work, rather than more pretty pictures,” Schreiber said. “I think if we were to limit the scope of this project to just the west side of First Avenue then we could free up some money that we could use in this phase to address the outfalls at Sand Creek.” 

Grimm said that SURA collection projections are coming in over the city’s expectations, which primes the city to use those funds for the fourth phase of the project and address the stormwater issues in the near future. 

“It’s my hope that we can put some of that excess SURA money to Farmins’ Landing and that area for stormwater, which is super important,” Grimm said. 

When questioned by Duquette on when the city might revisit designing the east side, Schreiber said it might never, which is why he felt designing it now is a waste of money. The vote on a motion to table the contract and remove the east side from the design was voted down on the same lines that the contract was approved on. 

In the city’s original public involvement plan, the only open house was scheduled to be held after 90% of the design was completed in March 2026. Bush said there will be a committee set up with city staff, representatives from the city commissions and downtown stakeholders. 

All three dissenting councilors said they wanted more community input in the design and suggested an open house in February when the design would only be 30% complete. 

Public Works Director Holly Ellis said the staff would be bringing a basis of design report to the council so the community will be able to provide feedback. She said she hopes to get the ideas hammered down in black and white with the public before they move forward with the full design. 

"To make sure, before we continue to spend time and effort on design and plans and all that money that we get it right early on,” Ellis said of the report. “We’ve got that preliminary basis of design that we’ll bring forward and then we’ll also have that public involvement plan.” 

The project will be funded by the Sandpoint Urban Renewal District and the city’s Water Fund. The design contract will cost the city $741,700 and include additional preliminary designs for the fourth phase of the project, which would extend from Lake Street to Superior Street.  

Grimm said the SURA district will sunset in 2029 and that it’s of the utmost importance the city spends the funds while they have them.  

With the contract approved, the city and Welch Comer will begin collaborating on a design of the third phase. In addition, Grimm said the city will begin pursuing grants to see if there are potential ways to alleviate the cost for the city. 

The next scheduled City Council meeting is Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The full recording of the Dec. 3 meeting is available to view at youtube.com/@cityofsandpoint.