Sandpoint advisory committee recommends updated development impact fee study to city council

SANDPOINT, Idaho — On June 10, 2025, the Sandpoint Development Impact Fee Advisory Committee voted to recommend that City Council accept an updated Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and a development impact fee study prepared by Tischler Bise, with a staff correction to park acreage before the study is forwarded to council.

The committee’s recommendation follows a presentation by city staff and Tischler Bise consultants that updated the city’s impact fee calculations for parks and recreation, pathways, roads, police and fire. The draft ties future fees to projected population and job growth and to the city’s 10-year growth-related capital needs.

Nick, a Tischler Bise consultant, summarized the legal and technical basis for the fees, saying, “They are not a tax. They’re more similar to a contractual arrangement to build that infrastructure with the fee revenue.” The study applies the standard “rational nexus” tests: (1) growth-related need, (2) benefit to new development, and (3) proportionate share.

The consultants used building permit trends since the 2020 census, vacancy and persons-per-household figures, hotel-room inventory and Institute of Transportation Engineers trip factors to model a 10-year…