City curtails parking requirements

SANDPOINT - With hopes of making life easier for downtown businesses, the City Council voted Wednesday to drastically alter downtown parking requirements.

The council voted 5 to 1 to give new business owners free reign in deciding how many - if any - parking spaces to offer. Based on free market principles, the deregulation ordinance completely overhauls the city's previous parking ordinance.

The previous ordinance, which went into effect in 1979, required businesses that had either changed usage or undergone significant alterations to maintain a certain number of off-street parking spaces, depending on the size and function of the business.

Councilman John Reuter, who spearheaded the changes, said the new ordinance will give business owners more flexibility while creating a vibrant downtown.

"There is a misunderstanding that parking is the problem, but really the biggest problem our downtown faces is vitality," Reuter said.

Reuter acknowledges that the plan will likely make finding a parking space more difficult, but said dealing with a parking shortage is the price of having a bustling downtown.

"I think that vibrant places always have parking problems. The two are just connected to each other," he said. "I don't think the parking problem is ever going to be cured, even if we build a parking garage."

Not everyone within the city is supportive of the new ordinance.

Councilwoman Helen Newton, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the deregulation, said the ordinance could have dire consequences for downtown business owners.

"I've been with the city for 27 years - as clerk for 24 and on the council for three - and I've seen a lot of bad decisions, but I think this could potentially be the worst decision any city council has made during that time," Newton said.

By giving business owners the choice of how many spaces to offer, Newton fears they will not offer any, which would eventually make downtown parking too difficult and drive customers out of the area.

"Why would they spend $20,000-$30,000 per space - which is the estimated cost to build a parking space - if they didn't have to?" she said.

Newton also argues that the deregulation will put an added burden on the Sandpoint Police Department, which is already stretched thin. In a memo circulated to council members and Mayor Gretchen Hellar, Police Chief Mark Lockwood raises many of the same concerns.

"The police department will be the entity who will be required to shoulder these usage impacts and enforcement issues," Lockwood said. "The police department currently does not have the means to effectively mitigate such factors."