Comp plan heading to city council
SANDPOINT — Although it has yet to reach the city council, Sandpoint’s comprehensive plan has become one of the hottest topics in local politics, with the potential to be either a unifying or divisive document.
The Sandpoint planning commission recently voted unanimously to recommend the plan to the city council, effectively locking it into its current form and ending a 14 month period of fluidity.
Before it reaches the council, residents are encouraged to attend a public hearing on the matter at 5:30 p.m. this Thursday at city hall.
According to Jeremy Grimm, Sandpoint’s Planning Director, the comp plan is designed to act as a 20 year road map for Sandpoint and its ACI, or area of city impact.
Grimm, one of the plan’s primary architects, has devoted much of his time as planning director to the 12-chapter document and map, and is pleased with the final result.
“The Sandpoint of 2028 is going to be a Sandpoint with a diversity of housing for folks of different ages and different socio-economic status, and it will offer the opportunity for all of our residents to have an equitable way to get to and from work and to and from the services we need without being solely dependent on an automobile,” Grimm said.
Objections to the plan and its proposed alterations to residential neighborhoods have subsided as of late, which Grimm attributes to the work of the steering committee and the diligence of the residents who came forward to express their views.
“First, a lot of folks have come down and gotten engaged and asked a lot of good questions,” Grimm said. “Second, I think the steering committee and this whole public process has done a really great job to modify the plan based on citizen input and concern. This plan truly does reflect what the steering committee and our consultant heard from the community.”
Grimm said he is amazed about how well-received the comp plan has been, but several community groups — including the Sandpoint Arts Commission — have voiced concern over what they see as an insufficient focus on the arts.
Acknowledging their concern, Grimm said a chapter designated to the arts could be added after the comp plan is passed by the city council.
Another bone of contention has been what some see as a lack of planning in areas of sustainability.
Grimm disagrees, citing a goal in the community design chapter of the comp plan that encourages “the development of a detailed sustainability policy matrix to guide City expenditures, actions, and community development.”
“Depending on what colored lenses you have on, you either read into that as being incredibly progressive or too restrictive,” Grimm said of the plan’s sustainability focus.
For a full copy of the plan, visit www.cityofsandpoint.com/compplan.asp