Sidewalk grant raises questions

SANDPOINT — A proposed project to build sidewalks on several blocks of Michigan Street is again raising questions about the city’s responsibility to communicate with its residents and business owners.

At its Aug. 13 Administrative Committee meeting, council members Helen Newton, Stephen Snedden and Doug Hawkins Jr. approved an application for a $100,000 Safe Routes to School grant that would put sidewalks in on the south side of Michigan from Division to Olive, and on both sides of Michigan from Olive to Boyer.

The grant would be the third from the Safe Routes program for the city, although only one of the projects has been completed and the other is in limbo after several business owners claimed the project would financially damage their businesses.

As with the previous Safe Routes grant, which would give the city more than $75,000 to build a pedestrian-activated light crossing Highway 2, this new grant application is again focusing attention on how the city communicates with citizens while in the planning stages of projects.

Newton, who voted to approve the grant application, said the city has unlimited room for improvement when it comes to communicating with residents and said home and business owners on Michigan have the right to know about the grant before it goes out.

“We need to hold off until they’re talked to,” Newton said. “My hope is that between now and the council meeting a letter would go out to inform all of these folks that this is on the council agenda this week.”

Newton also places some blame for the lack of communication at the feet of Mayor Gretchen Hellar, who Newton believes is responsible for addressing resident and business owner concerns.

“If you have a mayor that really believes in communicating with the citizens, then (sending a letter) should have been a primary thought the day following the Admin Committee meeting,” Newton said.

While she agrees that the city needs to do a better job getting resident input on projects, Mayor Gretchen Hellar said it would be unfeasible for the city to contact every resident or business owner before a grant is submitted.

“Certainly if there’s a big public outcry, we wont do it. But if we have to run past citizens every grant we write, we’d never get any grants, because we usually don’t have that big of a timeline,” Hellar said.

Although she said it would be impossible to obtain resident input prior to applying for every grant, Hellar said when it comes sidewalk issues, residents have the right to know what the city is doing.

“I think maybe on some things, especially sidewalks — sidewalks are kind of a four-letter word to some people — we probably should have at least told them we were applying for the grant,” Hellar said.

One possible solution, according to both Hellar and Newton, would be to introduce written directives to city staff explaining their responsibility to communicate with residents affected by proposed projects.

“The more you routinize things, the more you say this is what to do and these are steps one, two, three and four and five, I think that’s the best thing you can do,” Hellar said.

Currently, there is no unified directive for how staff should handle community outreach, and neither Newton nor Hellar are aware if anyone informed property owners on Michigan about this newest grant application.

Mel Donenfield, who owns Northwest Auto Body on Michigan Street, said he was completely unaware that the city was attempting to put a sidewalk in front of his business.

“I think (a sidewalk) would hurt my business,” Donenfield said. “With all the businesses on my side of the street, I think it would be better to put it on the other side.”

Both Hellar and Newton welcome any residents or business owners that would be affected by the project to attend the Aug. 20 council meeting, where the full council will vote on whether to apply for the grant.

The council will meet at City Hall at 5:30 on Wednesday.