Sandpoint adopts new comp plan

SANDPOINT — It took countless meetings, workshops and public hearings, but the city’s comprehensive plan is finally on the books.

The plan, which was designed to guide Sandpoint’s growth through the next 20 years, was unanimously approved at Wednesday’s City Council session.

The 12-chapter document and map will replace Sandpoint’s previous comp plan, which has been in place since 1977 and is generally considered outdated.

The plan’s passage marks the beginning of what will be a years-long process of rezoning. City Planner Jeremy Grimm said the real work will begin when the city begins the rezoning process.

“We now have to create the law — the code — that will impact every piece of property in town and cause future development to occur in a way that’s consistent with the plan,” Grimm said.

While a number of contentious issues have passed before the council since she took office, the comp plan has undoubtedly been the dominant issue of Mayor Gretchen Hellar’s tenure. Like her cohorts on the council, Hellar has spent innumerable hours on the plan and said it was especially gratifying to see it pass with council-wide consensus.

“I think the fact that it passed unanimously was a wonderful portent that the city is going to be able to move forward in a manner consistent with the kind of city we want to be,” Hellar said.

Consensus on the plan was hard earned, but a number of early adversaries were eventually won over.

Sandpoint residents Bob and Carol Camp attended nearly every meeting held on the plan and were opposed to many portions of its early drafts. As the process moved through various stages of city government, the Camps realized that their voices were being heard and slowly became supporters of the plan.

“They took a lot of our suggestions and really looked at them,” Bob Camp said. “We didn’t get 100 percent of the things we wanted, but I think we got better than 80 percent, so we’re pretty pleased with it.”

Perhaps nobody in Sandpoint has spent more time on the comp plan than Grimm, who said it was exhilarating to see council and community come together for a common goal.

“It’s really humbling and pretty awesome to see this public process take place where the community essentially expresses their vision and it becomes the vision of the city,” Grimm said.