SANDPOINT — City staff will be holding an open house in Sandpoint Community Hall next week to provide an updated design for the third phase of its downtown revitalization project.

Project Manager Erik Bush said at the City Council’s Jan. 7 meeting that the open house, which will help the city gather input from the community, would be held once the engineers completed 30% design drawings. The project will stretch down First Avenue from Church Street to Pine Street, extending the roadway, street beautification and pedestrian safety improvements seen in the first two phases. 

Bush said at the January meeting that the feedback from the public would be reported back to the City Council to give them a more holistic view of the community’s feelings on the project. The open house will be held in Community Hall from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. next Tuesday, March 24.

“We're trying to kind of grab all the comments, all the impact that we can with those two structures,” Bush said on Jan. 7. “I'll always be available for questions from you all, from the any member of the community.”  

Following the contract’s narrow approval, by way of a tiebreaking vote by Mayor Jeremy Grimm in December, the council has prioritized public involvement. Council members Pam Duquette and Kyle Schreiber have been the most vocal supporters of more public input, helping schedule the March open house. 

“I definitely think that more communication with the public is better,” Schreiber said in January. “The last thing we want is to get to the finish line and have the public not support we come up with.”   

In addition, the city has formed a technical advisory group composed of members of the city’s committees and other identified stakeholders to review the plans. This group is scheduled to meet three times this year, with their first meeting already taking place in early March. 

Sandpoint has contracted The Langton Group, the same public relations firm who conducted outreach for the city’s wastewater treatment bond last November, to execute a similar strategy for this project. Bush said that the group has already begun interviewing key stakeholders in the project’s footprint and will launch a project website soon. 

City staff will also be attending community events, including the Sandpoint Farmers’ Market this summer, to seek community feedback, Bush said on Jan. 7. The project will be funded primarily through the Sandpoint Urban Renewal District’s downtown collections, but the city has applied for several grants to lower the cost. 

At the council’s most recent meeting, Public Works Director Holly Ellis said the feedback and more details would be presented to the council on April 1. The city estimates construction on the project will begin this fall.

More information about the project can be found on the city’s website or at bit.ly/4cYBLP3.