Sandpoint commission hears SHPO on local-designation steps after CLG grant miss

Sandpoint’s Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation Commission heard from the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) on plans to pursue design‑review guidelines for a proposed downtown local historic district after the city’s FY2025 Certified Local Government (CLG) grant application was not funded.

Alexis Matrone, SHPO certified‑local‑government coordinator and preservation planner, said the 2026 CLG application cycle opens Nov. 1, 2025, and closes Jan. 31, 2026, and that a local ordinance establishing the overlay district would strengthen future grant applications. “It would be a stronger grant application if the ordinance is already set in place or that overlay zone is already set,” Matrone said.

The commission’s discussion matters because a CLG grant would fund design guidelines to protect historic resources in downtown Sandpoint; without an adopted local district overlay the downtown boundaries lack local regulatory protection.

SHPO staff described next steps and limits. Matrone said the CLG grant requires a match but the match “does not have to be a cash match” and can be met with in‑kind time or services. Matrone said SHPO can provide templated ordinances and sample consultant lists to reduce staff workload when Sandpoint crafts a draft ordinance for planning commission and city council review.

SHPO also warned of federal funding uncertainty. A second SHPO speaker, Dana (SHPO staff), told the commission the president’s proposed FY2026 federal budget would zero out the federal grant that funds SHPO operations and the office’s pass‑through grants to local partners. “In the current, proposed budget, there would be 0 funds for the operation of our office or the pass through to our local partners,” Dana said, adding SHPO will ask local partners to contact their congressional delegations.

Mayor Jeremy Grimm said the city is fully supportive of staff working toward the ordinance and that the commission should plan to help with public education when the proposal goes to planning commission and council. Grimm said the city’s planning department is hiring an associate planner to free senior staff to work on long‑range projects including the downtown zoning and historic district.

Commissioners and SHPO agreed on practical next steps: SHPO will send application links and templates to city staff; the city’s planning/community development director (Jason) is the internal point of contact; and the commission can help with public outreach and testimony once staff and council move a draft ordinance into the administrative review process.

No formal action or vote was taken by the commission on this topic during the meeting. The discussion concluded with SHPO offering to provide sample ordinances, guidance on match calculations and consultant contacts to help the city prepare for the 2026 CLG cycle.

Planning and budget context: Matrone said CLG funding is administered through the National Park Service. SHPO described the potential loss of federal pass‑through funding if the FY2026 proposal is finalized, and asked the commission and the city to consider outreach to the congressional delegation.