Sandpoint commission weighs arboriculture manual update and code changes; staff to seek ANSI standard references and better permit review

The Sandpoint Urban Forestry Commission began a multi‑meeting effort to update its Arboriculture Manual and related city code language, with commissioners recommending the city reference national standards rather than reproduce technical standards in local code.

Eric Bush, city staff liaison, told the commission the current manual dates from February 2003 and is out of date. “Our manual is from 02/2003,” he said. Commissioners discussed whether the manual should serve homeowners with concise, digestible guidance while the code should point professionals to the current ANSI A300/ISA standards.

Why it matters: commissioners said unclear or outdated guidance contributes to poor tree work, unsafe plantings and inconsistent enforcement. They argued that the city code should avoid replicating lengthy professional standards and instead reference those standards so the ordinance does not require frequent technical updates.

Permitting and enforcement: Bush described the existing permit review process and said he is working to be added as a reviewer in the city's permitting software (BSNA) so larger private‑development applications receive explicit forestry review. “When a building permit gets filed with the city of Sandpoint... I am not a checkbox on that list for private development. So if you're, you know, building an apartment complex… I work with our planners and our building department, and they let me know when those applications come in,” Bush said. He recommended formalizing that review step to reduce non‑compliant plantings and to make enforcement more consistent.

Standards and code drafting: commissioners and staff discussed using ANSI A300 and ISA Best Management Practices as referenced resources and to avoid copying technical specifications into local ordinance text. A commissioner told the group that referencing the professional standard in code is preferable to embedding the content directly because the national standards are updated by experts.

Project structure and next steps: the commission agreed to review the manual in sections over multiple meetings and to coordinate any proposed code updates with legal counsel. Staff and commissioners will also inventory common local problems (examples of poor plantings or improper staking) to inform practical code or manual edits. Bush said he will check with legal staff about what code changes are permissible under state law and will pursue being added formally to the permit-review workflow.

Other considerations discussed included differences between rights-of-way trees (where the city has more authority) and private-property trees (where protections are legally and politically sensitive) and the potential to include a homeowner-facing digest of best practices while directing professionals to ANSI/ISA standards for technical work.