Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail

This is a special post related to an ongoing project to purchase the Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail.

In the 60's the Hall family purchased a large chunk of the shoreline between Sandpoint and Kootenai. The purchase was done shortly after installation of the Albeni Falls dam. Several years after the purchase, a large part of the properties had washed away prompting emergency action by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect the railroad tracks. Since that time, the Halls have owned a sliver of waterfront property that spans almost a mile of shoreline. For the last three decades, the Halls and various groups have debated the purchase of this property. There is a trail on the property and the adjoining railroad property which is used extensively by the public.

In early 2011, Dann Hall listed one of his properties for sale. Carrie Logan initially worked to purchase this property. After multiple discussions the City and Dann Hall were unable to agree on a purchase price.

I approached the Halls following the discussions and worked with Dann on a proposal to purchase the entirety of the Hall properties. This took several months and hundreds of hours. Ultimately, we were able to agree on a four-year purchase price of all the Hall properties for $1.6 million. The total land is almost one mile of shoreline.

After coming to an agreement on a potential deal, it was necessary to find the funding for the project. John Reuter was instrumental. At the same time as the Hall deal, the City of Sandpoint was going through budget discussions. Councilman Reuter worked to identify funds in the budget which could be used for the purchase. The deal requires $400,000 this year and each year thereafter for four years. However, I believe that Ponderay will pay the purchase price in the third year and Friends of the Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail will pay the purchase price in the fourth year. Of note, the Friends group agreed to raise the money the same day that they became aware of the proposal. They are fantastic.

Councilman Reuter is incredibly effective at budgetary matters. Through no small feat and over many, many hours, he identified $400,000 that we could use this year for the purchase. We were able to include the purchase in the budget for this year.

Following Sandpoint's participation, I attended the Ponderay Council meeting to propose to them the purchase of the third year. It was a very long debate. Over the next two years, budget predictions show that Ponderay could save the money for the purchase. However, it will require sacrifices. After more than 30 minutes of discussion, the Ponderay City Council ultimately voted to make every effort to purchase the third year. The Council's decision was in no small part thanks to the dedicated support of the Friends' group.

To date, we are still working on nailing down the details on the purchase documents. It has been a very long process. Honestly, I am exhausted. However, I believe that this will be one of the most important projects in the future of Ponderay and Kootenai.

The Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail represents more than one mile of shoreline preserved for public use. It is equal to nearly all the other waterfront in the Sandpoint City limits.

The primary concern is the value of the properties and whether the price is fair. I believe that the price is fair considering the value and the opportunity that it represents. First the purchase price for Sandpoint is approximately $1,145 per front foot. Waterfront prices are between $2000 and $5000 per front foot. Secondly, the third and fourth year purchases are dramatically cheaper, averaging $193 per front foot.

In addition, these properties represent an incredible opportunity. Waterfront continues to be more limited. I remember a time growing up when there were countless places on private and public property to access the lake. With the increase of waterfront prices, there are fewer and fewer locations for the public to use the lake. This is only going to become worse. It has to with the cost of waterfront properties. Therefore, this represents the largest waterfront acquisition in the history of Ponderay and Sandpoint. This property might not be perfect but over time I am confident that it can be developed to provide public access to the lake. I believe that this is the most important project to come to the City of Sandpoint in the last three decades. It is comparable to the creation of the Sandpoint City Beach which was a public-private project spearheaded by the Lions Club. Similarly the Sandpoint City Beach at its inception was nothing more than a sand bar. It was filled in and over time has become the gem of Sandpoint. We have that same opportunity and I am excited at the possibility.


Articles on the Trail:

1. Daily Bee
2. Daily Bee
3. Spokesman-Review
4. Daily Bee
5. Daily Bee

August 2010 Council Mtg.

I was absent for this meeting. Of special importance at this meeting was the amendments to the urban renewal plan which I did not support.

As I have previously stated, the urban renewal is asking for broad discretion to conduct any project that they might deem appropriate. I believe that this is a mistake since they are using tax dollars for their projects. I believe that Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency ("SURA") and the City should agree on the scope and type of any projects that they are conducting. This is the only reasonable way for maintaining accountability over the public funds that the agency will be spending. It appears that I am the only person particularly concerned with this issue.

SURA's responses were particularly frustrating during this process. In a February 2010 letter, I suggested that SURA have the following specific priorities:

1. To create jobs;
2. To create quality workforce housing;
3. To guide future growth and development; and
4. To foster education.

In response, SURA's attorney stated that it was limited to spending its money on infrastructure. This was particularly frustrating because obviously, I wasn't proposing a social program - only that SURA judge its projects based on the above criteria. In a February 2010 response, I pointed out multiple Idaho urban renewal projects that have furthered the above-described goals.

UPDATE: Interestingly, in 2011 SURA gave a "grant" to the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association of $50,000 per year to be used for marketing. SURA has also funded a consultant to study how we can bring economic vitality to the downtown. I believe it is a one-year, $200,000 contract. How these projects square with the agency's earlier statement that they can only invest in infrastructure programs is beyond me.

While this is a fairly negative review of SURA, it is not meant to diminish their work. It is only to point out the lack of control which I believe borders on unconstitutional. SURA has done some amazing things in 2011 which include one of my very favorite projects - extending the Sand Creek Boardwalk. They have also built the Panida pier and rebuilt 2nd Avenue as the first Green Street in Idaho. So I am conflicted in that they intend well and have accomplished some great projects but lack the institutional controls that were meant to limit urban renewal ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn the event that something goes wrong.

July 2010 Council Mtg.

Issue 1: Sand Creek Arch. Whether to approve the concept and design of an archway over the Panida Alley.

Facts 1: The City of Sandpoint received a grant from the Idaho Transportation Department to improve the downtown area. The Sandpoint Arts Commission submitted proposals for an archway near the Panida and received approximately 7 submissions. Of those 7 submissions, the Sandpoint Arts Council chose a design proposed by Nelson Boren. The design uses recycled materials with a fish theme.

Conclusion 1: Public art is tricky. I like public art that is interactive, i.e. it can be moved, climbed on, etc. In this case, Nelson Boren is a very distinguished artist. I also really like the aspect of using recycled materials. I had concerns that the design which allowed the fish to "chime" in the wind would be loud. It appears that the fish can be detuned to avoid this situation if the chiming is obnoxious to downtown businesses. I approved the design because I believe that it will be an interested addition to our downtown and I like public art. The archway will cost the City nearly nothing because it will be paid for by the Idaho Transportation Department.

Issue 2: New commercial zoning.

Facts 2: The City of Sandpoint's commercial zoning has remained largely unchanged for the last twenty years. After a very long process, we considered new regulations for the commercial zones. The process that we used was exhaustive. The planning and zoning commission had approximately 8 meetings on the code sections. The Council had a workshop on the proposed changes which bored down into the details. So at this meeting we are really addressing only a few problem areas.

Conclusion 2: I'm happy with this zoning. I think that it is dramatically better than what we have in place. Attached is a copy of my letter to the Daily Bee regarding the changes.