Sidewalks, conflict dominate Sandpoint council agenda

SANDPOINT — The City Council tackled a full agenda Wednesday, including yet another slate of sidewalk-related issues, at its long — and at times cantankerous — meeting.

On a 3-2 vote, the council authorized the city to apply for a $100,000 Safe Routes to School grant to build sidewalks on the south side of Michigan Street from Division to Olive, and on both sides of Michigan from Olive to Boyer.

The proposed project has been praised by many citizens as a way to keep children out of the streets without adding a financial burden to residents. It has also drawn the ire of some who live or work on Michigan, who say the city did not ask for input on the project.

To make the matter even more polarizing, the city has yet to decide what to do about a previous Safe Routes grant that would create a pedestrian-activated crossing at Highway 2.

The project, which planners had hoped to be completed by the end of fall, is in limbo after two business owners complained the crossing would financially damage their businesses.

The two dissenting voters, council members Michael Boge and Carrie Logan, referenced the incomplete Highway 2 crossing and lack of citizen input as reasons why they were unsupportive of a new Safe Routes grant.

Boge said the project “put the cart before the horse,” and Logan said she didn’t want to see the council “chasing money.”

“We need to solve the Highway 2 crossing,” Boge said. “When we do solve it, we can move ahead with this.”

Council members Stephen Snedden, Doug Hawkins Jr. and John Reuter voted to approve the grant application. Councilwoman Helen Newton was absent from the meeting.

The other sidewalk issue sending waves through Sandpoint has been the aftermath of the failed 2008 Local Improvement District. After building sidewalks prior to a vote on the LID, 40 property owners were left with what they call “sidewalks to nowhere” when the ordinance was voted down in March.

Many of those residents successfully petitioned the city for a refund on the money they spent building the sidewalks, only to have the decision reversed when the Idaho Attorney General’s Office called the plan illegal.

On Wednesday, the council unanimously denied 18 additional claims against the city for sidewalk reimbursement — a move that was anticipated following the AG’s advice.

Amending the motion to dismiss the cases, Boge asked that a letter of apology be sent to the 40 affected homeowners signed by Mayor Gretchen Hellar, Larry Blakey of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Kody Van Dyk of the Public Works Department, and each member of council.

“The ongoing lack of communication from the city to the people they are supposed to serve has created hard feelings, distrust and financial hardships with the antics that have taken place in regards to sidewalks,” Boge said.

Boge also said the AG’s ruling gives the council the perfect vehicle to hide behind, while also suggesting that Hellar needs to be more diligent in bringing the public into projects before they begin.

Quoting author Robert Heinlein, Boge ended his remarks by saying “There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.”

Not only did Boge’s amendment fail, but it drew sharp criticism from Reuter, who took issue with Boge’s assertion that the council was hiding behind the AG’s ruling and said if he would have been on the council when the LID was voted on, the city would not be dealing with its current sidewalk problems.

Despite the failure of his amendment, Boge said he will continue to seek support for the letter.

In other business, the council gave the Sandpoint Arts Commission approval to seek funding for a public art project on the bridge over Bridge Street, passed an ordinance allowing for a zone change from residential A to Residential C for the proposed Whitewater Creek development and approved a preliminary plan for a 10-lot subdivision located east of the Brandywine subdivision.

The council also voted to approve a budget for the fiscal year 2008-2009, but did not have the requisite votes to let Hellar to suspend a rule to pass the ordinance with a single reading. Because the rule was not suspended, the council will have to meet next week to read the ordinance two more times before it becomes law.