Sandpoint Parks and Recreation staff on Dec. 10 presented a 90‑minute community workshop design to solicit public ideas for alternative uses of the City Beach RV Park site, following a Nov. 5 council direction to ‘‘host a community workshop with the Avarils to envision alternative uses for the RV park site,’’ staff said.

The workshop — scheduled for Saturday morning — will combine an online survey (open through the start of the workshop), table‑based facilitated small‑group activities and a 20‑minute sketching exercise using tracing paper over a large GIS map. Staff said the survey has yielded about 260 responses so far and that results will be kept private until the workshop begins and then shared with participants.

Why it matters: the RV park project was funded in part by a $950,000 Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation (IDPR) grant, and staff said the grant and a century‑old covenant on the property limit how the site can be changed. "We got a $950,000 Idaho Department of Parks and Rec grant," staff said; the grant agreement referenced in the record includes an expectation that the site remain in the funded use for 25 years, and staff cautioned the city would need Department approval or risk repayment if it materially changed the use within that period.

Staff framed the workshop as an open envisioning exercise rather than a binary vote on 'RV park' versus 'parking.' The survey asks respondents to score nine options (renovated RV park; additional paid parking including boat‑trailer spaces; outdoor community event space; food‑truck court; multiuse lawn/green space; multi‑sport courts; skate/bike skills area; stacked indoor boat storage; seasonal ice rink) across feasibility, desirability, public recreation value versus economic benefit, and year‑round versus peak‑season value. "The survey was designed to help people envision alternatives and then score them on feasibility and desirability," staff said.

Financial and practical context: staff said the RV park has averaged roughly $80,000 in net revenue annually (about $100,000 gross cited elsewhere in the record) and that some alternatives — for example relocating a boat launch — carry much larger price tags. A recent dredging quote was about $2.7 million and staff said fully rebuilding marina infrastructure to relocate the launch could plausibly exceed $10 million, making some options financially impractical without additional funding or private partners.

Workshop logistics and roles: the plan calls for commissioners and staff to act as table facilitators (not gatekeepers), use a series of clarifying yes/no questions followed by deeper probing questions in table groups, and collect 2–3 probing questions and 1–2 concept sketches per table for later review by city engineers. Staff said they expect to keep the survey open until the workshop start, offer QR codes and a laptop or in‑person option for attendees who have not completed the online survey, and record the workshop if needed to preserve public input.

Next steps: staff said they will present summarized results to the City Council early next year and seek direction from council on implementation and funding. Commission members agreed to revisit the workshop outcomes and consider a formal recommendation to council after community engagement is complete.

Votes at a glance: the commission voted to approve the minutes from its Nov. 12 meeting earlier in the session (motion moved and seconded; recorded 'Aye' and motion passed).