The People Speak

A former mayor, the present fire chief, several newcomers, some natives and a host of longtime (that means they're 20-something-year residents) Sandpoint citizens voiced their support, opposition and neutral stances last night toward a proposed ordinance that would relax height restrictions of buildings in Sandpoint.

The city planning and zoning commission sat before an audience of approximately 75 constituents and listened to comments for more than two hours. After discussion among themselves, the commission voted to instruct planning and zoning staff to return to a future meeting with a revised ordinance, allowing variances with conditional use permits in some subdistricts but not in others.

After the motion passed, an audience member stood up and told the commission members they had basically voted to allow height variances because of the wording of their motion. After some head scratching and a few additional comments from the audience, someone on the commission moved to amend the earlier motion with some different wording to make everybody happy. It passed. Next month, the commission will revisit the issue.

What does this all mean? It means Harolds Super Foods is not quite yet on the chopping block and destined to be replaced by a 5-story signature headquarters for the ever-growing Panhandle State Bank. If the bank gets the go-ahead for the desired height variance, it plans to use 78,000 square feet on the block occupied by Harolds, the Cinema 4-West Theater, a laundramat and the Hairhut Beauty Salon for its new facility. The proposed financial center would house 130 full-time employees and a few professional offices.

The building height variance would also affect the new Seasons at Sandpoint condos, set for construction north of the Edgewater Resort. Discussion revealed that the Seasons may add another story to the original 3-story concept.

Half a dozen audience members supported the height variance, stating that height doesn't necessarily detract from character or charm. They also suggested that with sky-rocketing land prices, it may be easier to develop up rather than out. In addition, the proponents emphasized that the community could use an increased tax base.

Those opposed provided a full plate of reasons to retain the present 45-foot height limit. Some worry about fire protection and the cost of extra equipment needed to fight fires on top stories of higher buildings. Others want to protect the integrity of the historic district and public access to the waterfront.

Still others, like former Mayor Paul Graves, said it's time for governmental officials to consider the community's people over the big-money interests, saying "money, not people seems to be in charge and that proposed developments will make Sandpoint too expensive for its residents."

Several speakers called the ordinance a "knee-jerk" reaction and stressed the need for those making decisions to revisit and complete a comprehensive plan along with reviewing the citizens' input from a local Gem Community survey. Results of that survey will be discussed at another meeting tonight.

All in all, it's obvious Sandpoint is "at the crossroads," as Paul Graves said last night. There seems to be a strong citizens' network willing to show up at meetings and fight for a treasured quality of small-town life.