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Commissioners consider smaller lots and revised lot-coverage rules to encourage infill housing
Summary
As part of long-running affordability work, staff proposed reducing minimum RM lot size from 5,000 to 3,500 square feet and offered multiple models for impervious-surface limits; commissioners asked for more study before formal adoption.
Planning staff told the commission Nov. 18 they are exploring changes to lot-dimension and lot-coverage rules intended to unlock more infill housing and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
City planner Bill Dean and Community Planning & Development Director Jason Welker said much of Sandpoint's built environment consists of historic "substandard" lots — often about 37.5 feet wide by 140 feet deep, or roughly 3,500 square feet — and that the current RM minimum lot size of 5,000 square feet does not reflect that pattern. Staff proposed reducing the RM minimum to 3,500 square feet to allow new subdivisions and attached housing forms that more closely match historic neighborhood patterns and to encourage additional units where appropriate.
The commissioners also reviewed four approaches to impervious-surface and building-footprint standards: a simple single standard (70% impervious across RM and RS); a wide-step model that reduces maximum impervious percentage as lot size increases; a narrow-step band model that steps down the percentage in 1,000-sq-ft bands; and a formula-driven "smooth curve" marginal model that computes a gradually decreasing maximum with a calculator. Staff said the single 70% impervious standard is easiest to administer and already appears in some mixed-use zones, but commissioners raised concerns about the risk of a "McMansion" outcome on larger lots and the complexity of formulaic approaches.
Questions raised included how wetlands or easements affect usable lot area (staff said other permitting constraints still apply), whether smaller setbacks and alley access would enable practical ADU development, and how to protect front-yard public-realm character while allowing larger footprints farther from the street. Staff said the changes would be brought back to a public hearing on Dec. 2.
No binding action was taken; staff will prepare a revised ordinance for the Dec. 2 public hearing and will further model impacts across the city's lot inventory.
