SANDPOINT — Over 50 people attended an open house to provide feedback on potential design and guide priorities on the third phase of the city’s downtown revitalization project on Tuesday evening. 

Residents were able to provide feedback on the design as well as moving around potential “third space items” like benches and tables. Attendees then moved through to set their priorities using stickers to tell the city how to best use the limited space on First Avenue and how they would like it to look. 

Project manager Erik Bush said residents favored a focus on pedestrians and bicycles with plenty of street trees and benches. 

“Those are kind of things that we suspected in advance of getting this feedback, but hearing that is indeed what folks value, is really great to hear,” Bush said. “Our intent is to make sure we're informing everyone what's going on with the project. I worked pretty hard to get the word out about this public meeting in general, and I also kind of gathered that most folks were pretty excited about where the project was headed." 

The third phase will stretch down First Avenue from Pine Street to Lake Street, picking up where the second phase left off. The city entered into a contract with local firm Welch Comer to design the phase back in December. 

The design on display was one of many potential ways the project could move forward. This version featured a multi-use path and sidewalk on the south side of First Avenue, a raised intersection with speed tables from Pine Street to Church Street and removable bollards on Bridge Street. 

The bollards would be added during the summer to force cars to make a right turn onto First Avenue, in hopes of alleviating congestion in the corridor, city staff said. During the winter months, they could be removed to make snow plowing possible, Public Works Director Holly Ellis said.  

“We are not at the 30% design level at this point,” Bush said. "Our kind of section during next week's city council meeting. I'll be joined by our design team, wealth comer, and we'll be presenting to city council, hey, this is, this is where we're at, what we're requesting... and approval on the basis of design, the 30% design would follow that.” 

Bush said the shown design incorporated feedback that city staff and engineers received from the Technical Advisory Group. The group consists of members of the city’s commissions and downtown business stakeholders to provide oversight and feedback for the engineers. 

Corey Obenauer, owner of Burlwood Dreams, sits on the group and said the presented design is the perfect mix of feedback and necessary updates. Obenauer said he appreciated the city’s willingness to hold the open house and accept feedback from the community. 

“I've never seen a construction phase like this be so open minded to the public,” Obenauer said. “They're trying to make it so that the people of this community and surrounding area can go and see everything that is being talked about, that is being planned and it's all open discussion. Nothing is set in concrete.” 

Obenauer said he hopes the design will help bring more people down from Cedar Street toward his store. He said he especially liked the improved pedestrian access and wider sidewalks which will expand the downtown common area down to the end of Pine Street. 

“They're going to bring the common area down further and stretch it out and open it up and make it more appealing and more inviting to people exploring more of town,” Obenauer said. “I don't know how many people will stop on my corner when I'm outside and go, ‘Oh, it doesn't look like there's anything else down there.’ It's really sad, because they're not getting to experience the whole.” 

The engineers also had a design extending down into Superior Street, which would be a fourth phase of the project, if the city could find funding. In the presented design, the turn into Sandpoint would be replaced with a roundabout allowing drivers to more easily navigate the intersection.  

Bush said that while the city doesn’t have the funding now, the partial design is being considered to help the city apply for grants and keep the designs congruent between the two phases. 

All the feedback received by staff will be presented to the City Council for consideration and direction at the April 1 meeting. The city is set to hold another open house on this topic in May. Bush said that if any residents want to provide feedback outside of the meetings, they can contact him or anyone at City Hall. 

    Donna Griffin puts a sticker on the board where residents were able to advocate what they wanted the street design to focus on.
  

    Residents place their stones into labeled jars as a part of the city's open house in March.
  

    A view of the potential First Avenue design from the city's March open house.
  

    A resident drops their stone into a jar labeled 'Cafe Seating' to show their interest in more outdoor seating for restaurants on First Avenue.