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New city planner flags zoning code gaps; urges clearer site-plan review and simpler standards
Summary
Senior city planner Bill Dean told the council the zoning code needs clarification to strengthen discretionary review, improve transparency and simplify development standards; he recommended prioritizing updates to the site-plan/site-development permit process.
Senior City Planner Bill Dean told the Sandpoint City Council on Dec. 18 that the municipal zoning ordinance contains ambiguities and overlapping provisions that reduce transparency and make discretionary development decisions harder.
Dean said he spent his first months reviewing the code and concluded the city has a strong foundation of objective development standards but that the permitting sequence often allows important discretionary decisions to be deferred until the building-permit stage. The result, he said, can be late-stage surprises for applicants and neighbors.
"We…
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