Sandpoint votes down sidewalk LID

Move follows months of political wrangling

SANDPOINT - After months of political wrangling, city workshops and multiple amendments, the 2008 Local Improvement District was finally put to rest at Wednesday's council meeting when four of the six members voted the ordinance down.

The proposed LID would have required homeowners in certain areas to build or replace sidewalks on their property.

With multiple trips to the council and numerous workshops, the LID was a controversial issue that dominated city politics for months.

At January's council meeting, the LID passed on the strength of Mayor Gretchen Hellar's tie-breaking vote, only to be sidelined by a little-used rule requiring three separate readings of an ordinance before it can become law.

Before the second and third readings could take place, two amendments were approved, one to create a 50-50 monetary split between homeowners and the city, and another to require four- rather than five-foot sidewalks.

The amendments so changed the DNA of the original ordinance that the process of reading the text had to start again, only without the backing of Councilman Steve Lockwood, who was one of the LID's strongest advocates.

Lockwood had been a longtime supporter of the LID, but said on several occasions that he could not support an ordinance that did not include five-foot sidewalks.

Without Lockwood's vote, only Councilmen Doug Hawkins Jr. and Stephen Snedden were in favor of passing the LID, with Councilman Michael Boge joining Lockwood and Councilwomen Helen Newton and Carrie Logan in opposition.

Throughout the process, Hawkins maintained his support for the ordinance because he felt it was unfair for the city to stop mid-stream after as many as 40 homeowners already installed sidewalks in preparation for the LID.

“In fairness to the people that have already paid for their sidewalks, we have to move forward with what we've planned,” Hawkins said in December.

Financing the ordinance continued to be a sticking point for several council members, most notably for Boge and Newton, who felt the burden of installing sidewalks was too extreme for residents.

“No one is opposed to sidewalks. The issue is how to pay for them,” Newton said when the ordinance was originally brought to the council. “Tonight I can only hope that this body will recognize that the extraordinary expenses forced on ordinary people will have dire consequences.”