Sandpoint commission recommends parking code overhaul to city council with directed edits

The Sandpoint Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously recommended amendments to the city—s off-street parking and loading ordinance to City Council on June 17, asking staff to incorporate several targeted edits before the council hearing.

City Planner Bill Dean summarized the proposal as a comprehensive cleanup and substantive update to the parking code tied to the city—s parking-management work. "The 3 big things that this ordinance really does is that it creates requirements for off street parking and commercial a for residential with an in lieu option," Dean said, describing three headline changes: a residential in-lieu option to reduce on-site parking requirements in some circumstances, expansion of the downtown parking-exempt area by about 14 acres (roughly 25-26 parcels) along Superior as the city entry corridor, and clarified standards requiring alleys to be paved when development intensifies beyond a small threshold.

Other key provisions include clearer hard-surfacing and maintenance standards, more explicit shared-parking language (including recorded agreements), updated landscaping and bicycle parking rules, and incorporation by reference of city council-adopted bicycle parking standards (Resolution 16-51) so the technical rack and spacing standards remain editable by resolution rather than buried in zoning code. Dean said the intent is to require residential bicycle parking even when vehicle parking is satisfied by in-lieu payments.

Staff said the ordinance sets decision pathways for administrative review versus commission review. It preserves an existing downtown approach that allows in-lieu payments by right inside the exempt zone, while adding a limitation outside the exempt area: applicants may buy down up to 50% of required parking administratively; proposals that exceed that threshold would require Planning & Zoning review.

The commission discussed multiple technical points and asked staff edits. Commissioners asked that the bicycle-parking calculation be revised from a "4 per 20" ratio to a 1-per-5-spaces basis, and recommended a cross-reference to the council-adopted bicycle parking standards (Resolution 16-51) instead of embedding detailed rack drawings in code. Commissioners also asked staff and the city attorney to add stronger language for shared-parking agreements (for example, requiring recorded agreements that cannot be terminated without city approval) and to clarify ambiguous sizing language (for example, the treatment of a 1,200-square-foot threshold and how fractional parking spaces are rounded). Staff also said current fee amounts (an in-lieu calculation example of $25,000 per structured parking space downtown) would be moved to the council fee schedule rather than fixed in the ordinance.

Public comment supported some proposed bicycle changes; resident Molly O'Reilly, a member of the Ped-Bike Committee, urged the 1:5 bicycle ratio and noted changes in vehicle types (e-bikes, cargo bikes) since the original standards.

Action: Commissioner Grant Simmons moved to recommend approval of the ordinance package to City Council with the edits discussed; Commissioner Wayne Benner seconded. The motion passed by roll call vote: Commissioner Scott Torpey: Aye; Chairman Moe Dunkel: Yes; Commissioner Will Mitchell: Yes; Commissioner Grant Simmons: Yes; Vice Chair Wayne Benner: Yes; Commissioner Reed Weber: Yes.

Next steps and context: The commission—s recommendation sends the draft ordinance to City Council; staff will incorporate the commission—s requested edits (bicycle ratio, reference to Resolution 16-51, attorney-drafted shared-parking protections, and clarifications on thresholds such as 1,200 sq ft and rounding) and return the package to City Council with an updated parking management plan mapping and fee recommendations. Staff said they expect to bring narrow definition edits (alley/parking-area definitions) back to P&Z on July 15.