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Sandpoint council splits on Cedar Street design; approves 11‑foot travel lanes and sidewalks on both sides
Summary
After extended public and staff discussion, council rejected staff’s 24‑foot asphalt recommendation, approved an 11‑foot travel‑lane compromise, directed tree preservation measures around a mature silver maple (air‑spading and arborist mitigation), and approved two‑side sidewalks for the Cedar Street reconstruction project.
Councilors, staff and experts spent the bulk of Wednesday’s meeting debating how to balance tree preservation, traffic calming and the maintenance needs of Sandpoint’s Cedar Street reconstruction.
Staff and a consulting arborist described techniques to preserve a mature silver maple in the corridor—air‑spading to locate roots, careful root pruning, temporary contractor slowdowns and longer‑term watering/mulching—estimated at roughly $25,000 for construction protections plus about $15,000 for two years of post‑construction care. Staff presented a chicane (lateral road shift) around the tree to reduce root impacts and provide traffic calming.
The meeting exposed a clear divide: planners and parks advocates favored narrower lanes and traffic calming to enhance pedestrian safety and protect trees; street‑maintenance and utilities staff warned that lanes narrower than the city standard would complicate snow removal and emergency access and increase long‑term maintenance costs. Staff proposed 24 feet of asphalt with painted 10.5‑foot lanes as a compromise; some councilors argued for an even narrower, more urban cross section.
Council votes: A motion to keep the 24‑foot asphalt cross section failed in a roll‑call vote. Council then adopted a compromise of 11‑foot travel lanes (motion passed). Separately, council approved installing sidewalks on both the north and south sides of Cedar Street (unanimous/no‑objection), and instructed staff to incorporate arborist recommendations into bidding documents and to pursue preservation practices where feasible.
Project schedule and budget: Staff said construction bids are planned for spring 2026 to allow competitively priced bids, and that the overall project budget is about $2.7 million. Staff also noted some preservation costs are a small percentage (estimated ~3%) of the total project budget.
Next steps: Staff will finalize engineering details with the chicane and tree‑preservation specifications, include the arborist’s mitigation measures in bid documents, and proceed toward spring construction bidding under the design parameters approved by council.
