Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Downtown Zoning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planner unveils draft downtown core zoning and historic preservation overlay
Summary
Deputy planner Bill Dean presented a draft rewrite of commercial zoning that would define a smaller downtown core, an outer core, and a historic preservation overlay with new design and building‑height standards; the Planning & Zoning Commission will continue review and staff proposes workshops with ACHP and council.
Deputy Planning Director Bill Dean told the council on Feb. 18 that the city’s commercial zoning needs a focused rethink and presented a draft ordinance that would define a compact downtown core, an outer core, and a preservation overlay.
Dean said Sandpoint’s existing commercial zoning is broad—roughly 365 acres—and that spreading downtown zoning too widely dilutes activity. His draft creates two tailored zones: a downtown core with stricter street‑front, activity‑generating uses and development standards designed to foster pedestrian vibrancy, and an outer core where ground‑floor residential uses would be allowed to increase downtown population and disposable income near retail nodes.
The package also includes a historic preservation overlay that would place locally enforceable review standards on designated resources; Dean warned the overlay would introduce permit requirements for exterior alterations and could slow some changes but said it is consistent with the 2018 Arts, Culture & Historic Preservation Master Plan. Planning staff are preparing detailed design standards for façades, materials, fenestration and building heights, and said nonconforming uses would be grandfathered under typical rules.
Councilors discussed view‑shed concerns, building heights on the east side of First Avenue and the appropriate boundary for a downtown core. Dean and planning staff recommended workshops and further work with the ACHP and Planning & Zoning Commission to refine boundaries, view‑shed protections and building‑height rules before returning to council for formal public hearings and adoption.
Next steps: Planning staff will continue drafting code language with Planning & Zoning and ACHP, schedule workshops to explain the implications of a historic overlay, and bring revised maps and regulations back to council.
