Sandpoint opens public hearing on updated off‑street parking rules; council continues deliberation

The Sandpoint City Council opened a public hearing Aug. 6 on comprehensive amendments to the city’s off‑street parking and loading code (Title 9, Chapters 1 and 5), then closed the hearing and continued deliberations to a subsequent council meeting to allow more review.

City planner Bill Dean summarized a line‑by‑line rewrite intended to clarify definitions, clean up procedural language, and add policy changes aimed at downtown development and alley improvements. Major proposals included: a requirement that alleys be hard‑surfaced when development intensity exceeds a duplex plus an accessory dwelling unit; a change requiring residential development inside the downtown parking‑exempt area to either provide reduced off‑street parking or pay an in‑lieu fee; and an expansion of the nonresidential parking‑exempt area to include additional commercial parcels near downtown.

Dean said the draft also clarifies where parking in‑lieu fees can be spent and reorganizes older code language for clarity. He noted that the planning commission had reviewed the draft across several meetings and recommended changes.

Council members asked how approval authorities would be assigned for parking reductions or shared‑parking requests and whether the code changes would require property owners to pave alleys or pay for maintenance. Dean explained the intent was to tie decisions to the permit approval authority in the zoning and permitting code (staff, planning commission or council as appropriate) and that alley surfacing rules would obligate property owners to hard‑surface when the ordinance threshold is crossed. Staff said the city would not assume ongoing maintenance of privately used alley surfaces and that enforcement tools and disability access rules (PROWAG) would be applied to any new crosswalks or ramps.

There were no public speakers signed up at the hearing. Council voted to close the hearing and continue deliberations at the next regular meeting so staff could provide revised ordinance text and answers to several council questions, including clarifications to outdoor lighting language and the exact procedures for in‑lieu fee calculation and use.

What happens next: staff will provide a revised redline ordinance and related fee resolution for council review. Because the ordinance may require multiple readings, council set a continuation of deliberations to the following meeting before adopting final ordinance language.