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Sandpoint committee seeks clearer open-house notification policy; mayor to present draft to council
Summary
Committee members discussed strengthening a public engagement and notification policy for capital projects, private land-use applications, master plan amendments and code revisions, and suggested earlier notifications, committee pre-notices and multiple outreach channels.
Members of the Sandpoint Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee discussed options to strengthen the city’s public engagement and open-house notification procedures and offered recommendations they asked staff to pass to the mayor.
Heather Faircloth read an email from Mayor Jeremy (excerpted by staff) explaining that the city currently follows Idaho Code and Sandpoint Code noticing provisions but lacks a consistent written public engagement policy; the mayor asked staff to draft a multimodal public-engagement and notification procedure covering capital projects, private land-use applications, master plan amendments and code revisions and to return it to city council within about one month.
Committee members urged earlier and repeated notification at key project milestones, recommended sending committee members a pre-notification before public notice, and suggested multiple outreach channels — the City of Sandpoint website subscribe/alerts function, Sandpoint Online, KRFY radio, the Reader and the Bonner County Daily Bee, the city Facebook page and targeted outreach through local nonprofits (bicycle clubs, Nordic club), KLT, Project 7 B and other community organizations.
Members discussed practical details: one participant recommended 30 days’ advance notice when possible to allow people with fixed schedules to attend, and others proposed at least two public check-ins for large capital projects — an early-concept open house (e.g., at roughly 30% design) and a later check-in before final council consideration. Members suggested that the policy include flexibility by project size or estimated cost and could use thresholds (for example, dollar amount, geographic scope, or project type) to determine required outreach levels.
Staff and committee members noted some operational issues: several members reported trouble subscribing to city email alerts and asked staff to publicize instructions for signing up; staff advised that the “Get Involved” > “Subscribe” path on the City of Sandpoint website is the point of entry for email notifications.
Committee Vice Chair Molly O’Reilly said she would pass the committee’s suggestions to the mayor and staff, and members asked staff to return a formal policy draft so the committee can provide comment before council consideration.
No formal action was taken at this meeting; the mayor’s email, as read by staff, set an internal target for a draft policy to be presented to council within one month.
