Council takes up building heights issue
SANDPOINT — After more than two months of public hearings focused around raising maximum building heights in the city's commercial "D" zone, the Sandpoint Planning Commission will make a recommendation tonight on an amendment that has the potential to alter the look of Sandpoint's historic downtown.
The commission's recommendation — to either allow maximum building heights to be hiked from 45 feet to 60 feet, limit the areas where taller buildings would be appropriate, or require conditional use permits for proposed structures — heads to the City Council for final approval.
Last month, commissioners directed planning staff to re-draft a proposed ordinance seeking to raise the maximum heights in Sandpoint's commercial "D" zone — an area stretching north to south from Superior to Larch streets and east to west from City Beach to Boyer Avenue.
"Certain boundaries in the commercial overlay could permit certain building heights between 45 and 60 feet with a conditional use if other standards are met," city attorney Will Herrington had said. "We'll need to re-address some of the language in the proposed ordinance."
While the general feeling of residents who spoke at last month's hearing was overwhelmingly opposed to any height increase for buildings in the downtown area, the city has received several inquiries in recent months regarding raising current building heights in the commercial "D" zone.
Representatives from a Florida-based developer of Seasons of Sandpoint — a high-end resort project on Lake Pend Oreille north of City Beach — have requested an amendment that would raise the height of their condominium units to 55 feet, 6 inches, a move that has generated heated controversy since it was first proposed.
Seasons' initial application called for several three-story units with mezzanines t the tallest point of each condominium. They later applied for and were granted a variance that would allow for construction for a four-story unit within the city's commercial "D" zone that totaled 45 feet on the landward side.
It did, however, reach 67 feet on the buildings' lakeside portion.
That sparked several inquiries regarding an increase in current building heights allowed in the commercial "D" zone, including one from Panhandle State Bank with plans to build a new corporate headquarters in the downtown area that could go as high as five stories.
Commissioners will also hold a public hearing tonight on a previously contested 29-unit subdivision on Sandpoint's northwest side which has drawn strong objections that the development off Great Northern Road is ill-suited for the neighborhood.
The 21-acre parcel located on the west side of the set of railroad tracks that parallel GN Road, between Woodland and Mountain View drives, was approved for annexation by City Council in a 3-2 vote last month.
Proponents of the project contend the development would serve as a transition zone between residential and rural neighborhoods and could hasten needed improvements to GN Road and road-level railroad crossings. They also maintain it would create affordable housing in Sandpoint.
Opponents have questioned the project's reliance on at-grade railroad crossings and traffic impacts on GN Road, an unpaved road notorious for its bumps and ruts.
They also claim the Star Development and Goodman Trust project would negatively impact the density of an already compacted area, change the nature of a rural neighborhood and create an overload of traffic.