Sandpoint planners open public comment on proposed paid parking plan to fund lot repairs

Sandpoint Planning and Zoning Commissioners on Jan. 21 heard a staff proposal to add paid parking at city-owned off-street lots — including the City Beach lot and Dock Street — to generate dedicated revenue for resurfacing and maintaining aging public parking facilities.

The proposal, led by city staffer Jason Welker, responds to a 2022 parking study and estimates roughly $320,000 a year in revenue from a mix of hourly fees, dynamic weekend pricing and discounted annual passes for residents and marina slip holders. Commissioners did not vote; the meeting was a public engagement forum and staff said the plan would return to advisory committees and then to city council.

Why it matters: Sandpoint’s downtown off-street lots show very high peak occupancy, staff told the commission, and the city currently bears the full cost of resurfacing and upkeep. Staff said deferred maintenance has left lots in poor condition and that a dedicated revenue stream would protect other general-fund priorities. The proposal also must conform to federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant rules that govern roughly two-thirds of the city’s off-street spaces.

City staff framed the plan as measures to improve access for primary users — local residents, marina slip holders and downtown shoppers — by shifting some visitor parking to underused on-street spaces. Jason Welker, presenting the proposal, said the city maintains 505 off-street stalls across five city lots and 1,097 on-street stalls in the downtown commercial core. He noted a finding from the 2022 study that only about 14 of the 505 off-street stalls were available at the noon peak on summer weekends.

"Free parking isn't free," Welker said. "These costs are real costs that have to be borne. The state of our parking facilities is evidence that we have mostly deferred these costs over the last several decades." He said resurfacing the city lot by Joel's is currently estimated at about $400,000.

Staff sketched a sample fee schedule: a $10 annual pass for city residents and a $20 pass for nonresidents (an LWCF constraint requires the nonresident rate be no more than twice the resident price), a $200 annual commercial employee pass, and peak hourly rates of roughly $2–$3 with a cap of about $16 per day in the busiest waterfront lots. Marina slip holders would be offered a $100 unlimited parking pass. Welker said the plan would apply only to city-owned off-street lots (and cited separate Idaho Transportation Department lots that the city does not own and would keep free).

Public comment at the hybrid meeting was extensive. Several residents urged protections for local access to City Beach and asked for longer free parking windows for families. Barbara Little, a Sandpoint resident, told commissioners: "My biggest concern is the city beach parking. If I understand things correctly, the hotel is going to have way more people there ... Can there be no parking for hotel and restaurant people in the City Beach parking?" Nancy Hastings, another resident, pressed the commission to review whether recent changes to a hotel’s parking commitment should trigger a reopening of prior approvals: "The hotel came before you and promised 240 parking spaces. And then suddenly ... they would sell off the City Beach parking."

Mayor Jeremy Grimm addressed the commission early and sought to correct circulating claims: "City Beach is not being sold. It's not being privatized. It never will be under my administration," he said, and added that the proposed hotel had used parking options available in city code, such as in-lieu fees and a site-specific parking analysis.

Speakers from the boating and downtown business community urged clarity on how any paid system would affect customers and concession operators. Eric Jensen of Lake Pend Oreille Cruises asked whether businesses would be expected to cover parking for their customers or whether kiosks and license-plate-based systems would be the implementation method. Welker said staff expects a technology solution (license-plate recognition, kiosks, QR codes and phone-based permits) and emphasized a desire to minimize police-driven ticket enforcement.

Several commenters offered alternative or additional measures: expanded shuttle service from peripheral lots, improved signage directing visitors to free street parking farther from the core, family-designated stalls or time extensions for residents with children, and pilot programs to attach passes to license plates to reduce misuse of annual passes.

Staff repeatedly noted a legal constraint around LWCF-funded lots east of the bridge: because federal grants were used historically to improve City Beach and Windbag Marina, any paid-parking permits or distinctions among user groups must comply with federal rules. Welker summarized the constraint: if the city charges one user group, it must make a pass available to all groups and may not charge more than twice what it charges another eligible group. He cited the example of Coeur d'Alene, which offers a $10.50 resident pass and a $21 nonresident pass for parks covered by LWCF rules.

Next steps: Welker told the commission staff will publish a public survey, brief the sustainability, pedestrian/bicycle and parks & recreation committees, and then present a revised proposal to the city council, currently expected in late February. He said implementation would require vendor proposals and a separate budgeting decision for startup costs and enforcement technology; those costs were not specified at the meeting.

Votes at a glance - Motion to approve minutes of the Dec. 17, 2024 meeting: moved by Commissioner Dunkel, seconded by Commissioner Benner; vote "Aye" — motion passes (attendance noted and no individual roll-call recorded in minutes).

The commission did not make a policy decision on the parking plan at the Jan. 21 meeting; commissioners and staff emphasized additional public engagement and technical analysis before any ordinance or fee schedule is adopted.

Public-record materials: staff said the 2022 parking study and a staff packet describing financial estimates were posted with the meeting materials and will be available during the engagement period. The plan’s next formal steps will include committee briefings and a city council hearing where any changes to the fee schedule or code would be considered.