City, PSB near agreement on parking

SANDPOINT — After several years in limbo, the city will vote on a proposed parking compromise with Panhandle State Bank at tonight’s City Council meeting.

As part of the memorandum of understanding before council, the two-and-a-half-year-old parking issue would be resolved with PSB giving the city $50,000 and a five-year lease on office space in the bank’s Sandpoint Center to be used for a businesses incubator.

The offer has an estimated value of $322,446, according to city documents.

The parking issue has been in the ether since 2006, when the city issued PSB a building permit for the bank’s Sandpoint Center. Nearly a year after the permit was issued, the city and the bank entered into a non-binding agreement requiring PSB to provide a total of 218 parking spaces or pay an in-lieu fee of $6,500 for each space not provided, records indicate.

With 60 on-site parking spaces and another 50 at an off-site lot, the bank is 108 spaces short of meeting city parking code.

The new agreement, which was negotiated during three early-April meetings, would resolve the dispute and forgive PSB’s remaining parking obligations.

Councilman Stephen Snedden, who attended two of the meetings, said the compromise has several economic benefits, including the possibility of creating a number of much needed jobs through the incubator program.

“We need jobs right now, not parking lots. Everyone agreed on that,” Snedden said.

Under the agreement, PSB would give the city use of 1,440 square feet of office space for the business incubator. Snedden said details about the proposed program have yet to be worked out, but believes it would be similar to the area’s existing incubator, which is run by the Sandpoint Economic Development Corporation.

“It looks like there’s a demand for that right now,” he said.

“And not only that, it would be great right now to encourage young entrepreneurs or new entrepreneurs to get involved in the community.”

The city recently overhauled its parking code, abolishing parking requirements for downtown businesses. PSB is still on the hook for its remaining spaces because the building was constructed and occupied before the new rules went into effect.

The council session will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Sandpoint City Hall and is open to the public.