SANDPOINT — To accept the grants or not to accept the grants? That is the question posed to the Sandpoint City Council for the third phase of the city’s downtown revitalization project. 

In the end, councilors voted to pause on an answer until they have a chance to study the issue. 

The city is set to be awarded two federal grants: $650,000 from a Community Development Block grant and around $1.8 million from the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council, according to project manager Erik Bush. If the city were to accept the LHTAC grant, the project could be expanded, but it would need to meet federal regulations, increasing the cost of the project and delaying construction by a year to fall of 2027, Matt Gillis, vice president of Welch Comer, said. 

The original project boundary was to redo First Avenue between Church and Lake streets. If the full grant funds are accepted, Public Works Director Holly Ellis said the city could expand the project to Superior Street and include improvements to the stormwater and sewer systems. 

“Not only does the grant provide, from the numbers standpoint, an opportunity to expand the project further south ... but there are some utility improvements that we're excited about as well,” Ellis said. “If we accept this federal funding, we would be able to get to Superior and take advantage of those utility improvements.” 

At Wednesday’s meeting, Gillis wanted to see how the council was feeling about accepting the grant funds and if they should begin federalizing the project’s design.  

“I would recommend that we table this to the next meeting, and all do our homework and ask any questions of staff and be prepared at our June 17 meeting to make a decision,” Mayor Jeremy Grimm said, to which the council agreed. 

In the preliminary estimates that Gillis put together, the grant funds helped shrink the deficit between the cost and available funding of the project, despite the increasing costs. During his presentation, Gillis said he feels that accepting the grant funds appears to be beneficial for the project. 

The delay in construction did not concern the council, with Councilor Kyle Schreiber saying he wants the multi-million-dollar project to be done right, rather than quickly. 

With the decision on the grants looming, the council and city staff are continuing to work with Welch Comer on the design of the project. The third phase of downtown revitalization is still set to feature a raised intersection on First Avenue from Church Street to Pine Street and pedestrian access improvements. 

Much of the discussion at Wednesday’s meeting centered around the intersection at Superior Street. Initially, Welch Comer had proposed the idea of a roundabout at that location, which was popular with the public and the city’s technical advisory group. 

However, Gillis said the city would need to acquire significant property to build the roundabout and the roundabout failed numerous tests in the firm’s traffic models. 

“From a traffic performance standpoint, interestingly, it doesn't perform well at all. In fact, it breaks down significantly,” Gillis said of the roundabout. “In year 20, some of the data showed queuing or vehicle stacking up on the east leg, 7,000 feet. A mile is 5,280 feet, so in the peak hour of the peak summer months in 20 years, you could have people backed up across the bridge.” 

The other option brought by Gillis was a far more restrictive, but functional design, which would see raised concrete medians sending all traffic up First Avenue and a cul-de-sac being built at the end of South First Avenue.  

Grimm pushed back on the idea of closing through traffic and asked the council if the city should design its streets for the busy summer months or for the other 10 months of the year. Schreiber said he doesn’t love the roundabout, but said he’d rather design streets for the other 10 months of the year in response to Grimm’s question. 

The council was not enthused with the secondary option, with Schreiber saying the raised medians could present safety issues and bring more traffic problems downtown. 

“It seems like we're adding even more infrastructure to that westbound Superior when I don't know if you really need it,” Schreiber said. “I feel like there's a design that we could accomplish here where it dissuades people from that straight direction without all of this extra infrastructure.” 

Councilor Pam Duquette asked Gillis if the engineering team could bring back more options for the Superior Street intersection at the council’s next meeting, which he agreed to. 

Residents can watch the full discussion and presentation from Gillis on the city’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/@CityofSandpoint. The council’s next meeting is scheduled for June 17 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. 

    The analysis of how the grants will influence the Downtown Revitalization Phase No. 3 presented to the Sandpoint City Council by Matt Gillis from Welch Comer.