Sandpoint staff weigh buying 2.5 acres of former railroad right-of-way to extend Sandpoint–Dover trail

City staff asked the Sandpoint City Council on Jan. 15 to authorize an offer for about 2.53 acres of former Union Pacific railroad right-of-way as a long-term corridor for the Sandpoint–Dover shared-use path and neighborhood pocket parks.

Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker told the council the parcel would secure an essential connection between recent multifamily and senior housing projects north of U.S. 2 and existing city-owned property downtown. “This is the only opportunity we have to secure an essential right of way for long-envisioned multimodal connections between communities,” Welker said. He said the city’s appraisal came in higher than the negotiated figure the city staff is recommending, and that the staff had negotiated roughly $80,000 below appraisal.

The purchase would be funded from the city’s parks development impact fee fund, Welker said. He told council the fund balance has been used previously for park improvements that serve growth, and…