SANDPOINT — City council members moved to adopt the city of Sandpoint downtown parking management plan, a paid parking system that city officials said will promote a more efficient utilization of public parking facilities and fund ongoing maintenance and development of public amenities.  

The adoption of the plan was a result of a 3-1 vote, with councilors Justin Dick, Pam Duquette and Deb Ruehle voting in favor and Councilor Kyle Schreiber in opposition.  

The proposed plan, which was presented by community planning and development director Jason Welker, had been revised since its first draft was presented Jan. 21, to introduce off-street parking requirements and refinement to the proposed parking pass structure, among other things. 

The implementation of the plan includes three main components that were crafted to “enhance access to business, shops, restaurants and other destinations,” refurbish existing city lots and ensure sufficient public parking to enable “redevelopment of underutilized properties.” 

The first component, according to Welker, is a parking pass program. The program is expected to be available for city residents, county residents, downtown residents and marina slip holders. Each pass category is expected to provide slightly different benefits from one another, with city residents gaining the most benefits due to “city taxpayers bearing the full financial burden of maintaining our (Sandpoint’s) parking infrastructure through their property tax,” said Welker. 

Unlike the plans prior drafts, there are no non-resident pass options available.

    An agenda packet for the June 25 meeting included the above rates for annual passes that will be offered under the adopted plan.
  

The second component to the plan is paid hourly parking, most applicable to non-pass holders, for downtown public parking lots and high demand curb space such as waterfront lots at City Beach, Sand Creek, Bridge Street, Dock Street and select blocks of First Avenue, Cedar Street and other busy downtown streets.  

The plan does not yet give specifics on hourly parking rates, as Welker said it is premature.  

“I’m not actually proposing any hourly parking fees in this plan, you’ll notice that the goal here is to achieve that effective capacity of 85%. For that reason, it’s kind of silly to establish a proposed hourly rate at this policy stage,” said Welker, nodding to his goal of keeping lot occupancy at or below 85% so that individuals are more likely to find a parking spot when needed.  

The last component to the plan proposes an in-lieu fee for residential developments within the parking exempt zone. This implementation would require developers to provide parking (at a rate based on the square footage of the development) or pay an in-lieu fee. City staff have recommended a $25,000 in-lieu fee per space. 

Residential developments will be required to provide one off-street parking space per 1,000 square feet, up to 1,500 square feet per dwelling unit. Developers will be required to provide one-and-a-half off-street parking spaces for units larger than 1,500 square feet.  

The parking management plan states that “tying parking requirements to square footage instead of number of units or bedrooms incentivizes developers to build smaller, more affordable housing units in downtown Sandpoint.”