This story has been updated to clarify the amount of occupancy tax Averill Hospitality expects to pay once the hotel is constructed.

SANDPOINT — Over 40 residents crowded into the community room at the James E. Russell Sports Center to share their vision of the City Beach RV Park on Saturday. 

Throughout the 90-minute workshop, residents worked their way through questions and eventually pitched their group’s designs for the land. Community Planning and Development Director Jason Welker said the workshop prompted good and respectful discussion, but no consensus was formed at the end of it. 

"I don't think we emerged with a consensus necessarily, but we certainly got some good ideas that we can explore further,” Welker said. “I feel like in the end, we did that, we had some good discussions and come up with some good alternative visions for the site, that was the goal.” 

In a social media post, the city shared the results of the survey as of Monday morning. With 908 responses, 43% of those being city residents, renovating the RV park ranked the highest overall as the best use of the land by survey takers, followed by a multi-use event space. Just under 350 people, or 69% of respondents, said staying the course with the RV park was their preferred course of action.

At the workshop, three of the seven groups kept a renovated RV park in that space. Other groups included things like additional parking, non-motorized kayak storage, a roundabout and other public amenities that would turn that land into a multi-use space. 

Councilor Pam Duquette was the only City Council member to take part in the workshop and said she appreciated the turnout and discussion. However, she expressed frustration at the disconnect between the survey results and the workshop results. 

"This, to me, is the flip flop that happens with every decision we make, and the community is tired,” Duquette said. “Trust is an issue with the city and the people, and I wanted to change that as a councilor. But it’s really hard when we get together like this and people change their viewpoints.” 

The workshop follows a decision at the Nov. 5 City Council meeting, where the council denied a proposal by Averill Hospitality to lease or buy the RV park, but scheduled a public workshop to see what the land should be used for. Brian Averill, co-owner of Averill Hospitality and Ben McGrann, local representative for the company, were both in attendance for the workshop. 

The city had planned to renovate the RV park with a $950,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Welker said the city takes opportunities as they come, and that the planned renovated space would feature less RV spaces with more public amenities like bathrooms. 

If the city does take the grant that has been offered to them, Welker said the land must remain an RV park for the next 25 years, or the city would risk having to repay the grant. Members of the public expressed a desire to keep the grant but potentially move the RV park elsewhere to maintain flexibility with that land. 

Welker said the grant was given out based off materials for an RV park at specifically City Beach and that he hadn’t spoken with the state to see if the grant was transferable. 

Another concern brought by the public was about losing the RV park revenue of around $80,000 a year, which goes into the Parks Capital Improvement Fund. McGrann and Averill said that the company could provide that amount on a yearly basis and that they didn’t want the community to be hung up on the revenue generation aspect of the land. 

In a letter sent to the city Oct. 16, Averill said the company would be willing to pay 110% of the estimated revenue from the renovated RV park. Averill said there’s still no completion of vision for how that repayment would work, but that the company is attempting to offer it as a show of good faith to the community. 

"We’re trying to demonstrate to everyone that we are willing to support and be involved in that and recognize that the best use is probably a different use,” Averill said. “We didn’t want the community to make that decision based on an $80,000 benefit to the city, we want them to make that decision based on what they saw as the best use of that land.” 

McGrann urged those there to consider the economic impact of the hotel’s tax revenue to the city, which he said estimates to around $1 million in occupancy tax over eight years until 2035 when the local option portion expires.  

The idea of Averill providing the amount to the city received mixed reception, with some residents saying they didn’t want the city to be “beholden” to an outside company. Welker said Averill Hospitality has not made a formal offer and that any decision to involve Averill Hospitality would come from City Council. 

Averill said the company is working to get their permits for the renovated hotel into the city before the end of the year. Previously, McGrann warned Sandpoint that the increasing development impact fees would sink the project and that the company could pivot to refreshing the old Edgewater instead of building a new resort. 

"When those fees changed dramatically, it changed the economics of the project, but we think we are going to make our submittal by the end of the year,” Averill said. “There’s a number of reasons the project wouldn’t go forward, that would be one component of it.” 

The results of the survey and workshop are set to be discussed at the next Parks and Recreation Commission meeting Jan. 14, 2026. Welker said the commissioners will discuss and hopefully come up with several options that he can bring to City Council at their Feb. 4 meeting. 

Those interested in providing further feedback can do so on the city survey, which can be found at sandpointidaho.gov/rvparksurvey. 

    Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Commissioner Josh Delucchi helps a group design their vision during the workshop.