City planner asks Sandpoint sustainability panel to define sustainability criteria for PUD density bonuses

Sandpoint — City Planner Bill Dean asked the Sandpoint Sustainability Committee on Aug. 26 to identify sustainability measures the city could require or incentivize when developers seek density increases through planned unit developments, or PUDs.

“The code is kind of a complicated ordinance. It’s big and clunky, and there’s lots to it,” Dean told the committee, referring to the city’s Title 10 zoning code and its PUD provisions. He said council asked staff to tighten ambiguous language in the PUD rules — including how and when density bonuses are awarded — and to clarify expiration and extension procedures for stalled projects.

Dean described the current PUD formula in which the code allows up to a 40% density increase broken into roughly 10% increments tied to items such as improved landscaping, site planning and “affordable housing as defined by council.” He said the ordinance does not specify objective criteria for those 10% bonuses and that staff and the planning commission want clearer, measurable standards.

Why it matters: PUDs are the city’s tool for allowing development that departs from base zoning in exchange for public benefits, and changes to the PUD rules could affect the size, location and environmental footprint of new housing. Dean said at least one developer has sought density increases to make smaller, more affordable housing viable; he and planning commissioners want guidance from the sustainability committee on which environmental or design measures should count toward a bonus.

Committee members and…