March 2010 Council Mtg.

Issue 1: Neighborhood Waterfront Parks: The City of Sandpoint was originally platted with roads. Some of these roads end in the water. Typically, these waterfront areas are used by the adjacent landowners. Earlier in the year, I proposed to use these roadways as public, neighborhood parks. At the time of the proposal, the legal ownership of these rights of way was questioned. So the matter was researched. After the research it was brought back to the Council.

Analysis 1: This idea has been floating around for decades. As waterfront property prices increase, there are fewer places for the public to access the water. Plus, it's only going to become more difficult as time continues. It's completely possible that in 20 years we'll have some of the same waterfront access issues that you find in California where accesses are hidden, covered or obstructed in order to prevent the public from using them.

Conclusion 1: This is a controversial measure but important for the community. We have a chance here to create four waterfront parks. The research concluded that at least some of these are feasible. We took this to the next step by placing them into the parks plan which will be adopted in the near future. Next we'll look for funding. I received a lot of criticism from the neighbors on this issue but we cleared up a couple of issues and I'm looking forward to seeing thee develop in the next decade into small, neighborhood swimming holes.

Issue 2: Whether to create a small local improvement district on Sixth Avenue. The City is going to be making improvements this summer along Sixth Avenue. Homeowners along Sixth Avenue will be required in the future to make certain improvements incuding sidewalks, sewer and others. So Councilwoman Logan has taken it on herself to take advantage of the City's work and allow homeowners to make the required improvements while paying for them over a period of decades through an LID.

Analysis 1: This is a really good idea. It takes advantage of the City's costs and work to lower the costs of improvements that these other homeowners will have to do.

Conclusion 1: I supported this because it's a great proactive measure. Unfortunately, the neighborhood didn't have enough support to create the LID according to the statutory requirements. At some point in time, these neighbors will have to pay for these improvements. I wish that they could have spread the costs over a period of years.

Issue 3: Sandpoint Urban Renewal: The City of Sandpoint created two urban renewal districts more than 5 years ago. These districts take tax money and use it for economic development.

Analysis 3: I've been both a vocal proponent and opponent of the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency. I'll discuss this more in a later post. However, I know that the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency is re-doing their plans and I want to make sure that they are soliciting the opinion of the Council so that the plans will be approved by Council.

Conclusion 3: I met with several members of SURA to discuss some of my concerns. At that meeting I asked what I could do to help them with the plan amendments. They states that they would really like to know the goals of City Council. I asked Council members for their goals and moved to approve the goals so that SURA could rely on them in drafting their plan amendments. The measure passed with a few changes.