Sandpoint planners advance draft parking ordinance changes; staff proposes $25,000 per-space in-lieu fee

Planning staff on Tuesday presented a working draft amendment to Sandpoint City Code Title 9, Chapter 5 that would change how the city requires or charges for off‑street parking for downtown development.

The presentation and commission workshop, led by City Planner Bill Dean and Planning & Community Development Director Jason Welker, outlined several linked changes: expanding the downtown commercial parking‑exempt zone, removing the separate residential exemption inside that zone so that new residential projects would either provide parking or pay an in‑lieu fee, changing the way residential parking requirements are calculated (from bedrooms to square footage), and tightening procedures for parking demand analyses and shared‑parking agreements.

Why it matters: the draft aims to preserve downtown’s urban form while creating a funding mechanism for future public parking supply. Staff told the commission the working fee proposal is $25,000 per parking space for residential projects that opt to pay rather than provide required spaces; the code previously referenced a $10,000 figure set in 2009. Staff said the $25,000 figure was derived from a review of comparable studies (including a detailed Boise study) and other cities’ practices and would be set and updated via the city fee schedule rather than hard‑coded in the ordinance.

Key provisions and staff directions

- Residential parking metric: Under the draft, residential parking in the downtown area would be tied to dwelling square footage rather than bedrooms; staff said the baseline proposal is roughly 1 parking space per 1,000 square feet, with a cap of 1.5 spaces per dwelling unit for larger units. Staff characterized that approach as “progressive,” requiring more…