SANDPOINT — Based on feedback received from residents and citizen advisory boards, city staff and officials have updated their plan for implementing paid parking in downtown lots. 

The changes, shared in a Feb. 4 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, include a time increase in free parking per visit for city residents with an annual pass from two hours to three hours at all lots except City Beach, where residents would receive four free hours. 

Additionally, staff introduced increased rates for the proposed passes. An annual pass for a city resident, non-city resident and unlimited one-vehicle pass for downtown businesses would be $15, $30 and $250, respectively. 

Those without a pass or passholders who exceed their free period would be charged $2-3 per hour, depending on the day and season. 

Community Planning and Development Director Jason Welker said the city has received ample feedback on the proposed model from community members, and that comments from residents inspired the revisions. The most common suggestion, he said, was to increase the free parking period for pass-holding residents at the City Beach parking lot. 

“This is in the development stage right now. This is not a final draft,” Welker said of the plan. “The implementation of a policy is much further down the road.” 

Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm has described reinstating paid parking in downtown lots as one of his top priorities for his term. When Welker introduced the draft parking plan in a Jan. 21 meeting, he said the changes were designed to reduce overcrowding at off-street lots and incentivize use of Sandpoint’s on-street parking stalls, which he described as underutilized. 

Additionally, Welker said the plan would generate an estimated $300,000 annually, allowing the city to establish a sustainable funding source for repairing and maintaining parking infrastructure. 

Comments shared at the meeting included a desire to see unlimited free parking at City Beach for city residents. 

In response to a similar comment voiced in the Jan. 24 meeting, Welker had said he agreed, but that the city is hamstrung by a federal regulation preventing Sandpoint from offering residents a discount greater than 50% compared to the general population. 

Another attendee alleged city staff were implementing the parking plan in response to a 40% parking reduction taken by a developer seeking to build a new hotel, restaurant and events center near City Beach. 

Welker and Grimm have previously stated the events are unrelated and that the developer, Averill Hospitality, merely utilized City Code provisions available to anyone and received no special treatment from the city. 

“This is not an outcome of the hotel project,” Welker said Tuesday. “The hotel is being required to provide the number of parking spots that our code requires of the hotel.” 

The commenter, Clark Fork resident Jennifer Cox, said that Statute 9-5-1 — one of two City Code sections staff said Averill Hospitality utilized for the reduction — grants Sandpoint’s planning director the authority to adjust the requirement based on a parking demand analysis, but doesn’t require the director to comply with a request. 

“Clearly, the reduction in parking could have been denied and it wasn't,” Cox said. 

Welker said the city is aware of concerns about spillover parking from the development affecting the City Beach lot, and that he warned Averill Hospitality against relying on the lot for use by patrons. 

“We reached out to the hotel and we said, ‘Look, you need to be aware that if there are special events at your hotel in the summer that are going to draw more people than are typically staying at your hotel, arrangements for offsite parking will be required by the city,” Welker said. “The city parking lot will not be available for special event parking at the hotel.” 

“They said, ‘No problem. We will run shuttles to wherever we need to get people to our summer events,’” he added. 

During the meeting, Welker also introduced a plan to implement boat launch fees at the City Beach and War Memorial Field boat launches. 

If passed by Sandpoint City Council, Idaho residents would be charged $10 per launch, and out-of-staters would be charged $15. Season passes for the groups would be $50 and $100, respectively. 

“We always knew that boat launch fees were going to have to be something that we address with parking fees at City Beach,” Welker said. 

Welker told attendees the rates were determined by examining the costs charged in nearby communities like Coeur d’Alene, and that he believes the change would lessen summer parking demand at City Beach. 

“When we start to charge for boat launching and for boat trailer parking, we're going to naturally see more parking available for vehicles at City Beach, as some of that boat traffic will choose to go to other boat launches,” he said. 

The parking plan will pass through Sandpoint’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee and Parks and Recreation Commission next week; after that, Welker said the city intends to solicit further public input by distributing a questionnaire. For staff to implement a new parking model, a majority of City Councilors would need to vote in favor of the change. 

“There's no timeline for when this might come to City Council,” Welker told attendees. “At this point, that's going to be up to the mayor.” 

“I can pretty much commit to this commission tonight that there's going to be no roll out of a policy in the next year,” he added. “This is something we're looking at for the future.” 

    An agenda packet for the Feb. 4 meeting included the above rates and benefits for annual passes that would be offered under the proposed plan.