Skating toward the future

SANDPOINT — A local developer with two failed attempts at rezoning the old Catholic church recently unveiled his plans for a community center at the site, which would include an ice hockey rink, a three-story parking structure and a large residential component.

Bruce Pedersen has twice gone before the council requesting the church and its surrounding lots be rezoned from residential use to some form of commercial, and he has twice been denied. His requests were turned down at least in part because, until this week, Pedersen would not divulge his plans for the property.

With his third attempt to get the site rezoned just around the corner, Pedersen decided to put his cards on the table and provide full details about the project, including producing numerous artist renderings.

The Jamie Packer Centre, named in honor of the Sandpoint golf pro and hockey enthusiast who died in a car accident in 2005, spans nearly two city blocks from Boyer Avenue to a half-block from Fifth Avenue, and from Oak Street to Church Street.

The center will feature an array of components, including a 90,000-square-foot parking structure and 135,000 square feet of mixed-use space. Pedersen estimates the project’s final price tag will fall in the $30-40 million range, which will be paid for through private investments, grants and donations.

In the proposal, Pedersen would keep the church and a grain elevator intact, using the structures as commercial or mixed-use properties.

He said his goal with the center is to create an environmentally-friendly downtown anchor and a centrally-located city hub within walking distance to schools, the beach, parks and the downtown core.

“It’s a really exciting project and I think it — of course we’re biased — is one of the best things for Sandpoint in quite a while and can become an anchor for downtown,” Pedersen said.

Pedersen, along with Sean Fitzpatrick of CTA Architecture, were careful to design the center using the principles of the city’s newly-completed comp plan, and Pedersen said the project is perfectly in line with the city’s vision for property.

Sandpoint Planning Director Jeremy Grimm agrees. He said the center embodies the principles of the comp plan and would benefit the city by adding housing and a large tax base.

“You‘ve got a recreation center that’s wrapped on the west side with the exact type of housing the comp plan envisioned, which is row houses, apartments or condos,” Grimm said. “So I think it’s very consistent with the directives and the guidance in the comp plan.”

Pedersen said he has been working on some form of a community center for more than a decade and has considered numerous sites. He said the current location is “head and shoulders” ahead of other prospective properties because of its location.

“The lightbulb went on and I was like, wow, if it could fit here, then why not?” Pedersen said. “Then when you start adding the economic multipliers for the downtown businesses and the local economy when you put it within the walking corridor, then all the other sites really start to pale in comparison.”

In his first two attempts at a rezone, Pedersen ran into strong opposition from surrounding homeowners, many of whom said commercial development would ruin the  neighborhood’s residential atmosphere.

At a September council meeting, Tom Letourneau, who lives across the street from the church, voiced his trepidation about inviting commercial development into the neighborhood.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is preserve our neighborhoods,” Letourneau said at the meeting. “What we want is to keep commercial activity where it belongs, which is downtown.”

Pedersen said every project of this magnitude is sure to draw criticism, but he hopes nearby homeowners will come around when they learn more about the center. And if they don’t, he will move forward without them.

“There’s a strong element within Sandpoint of no growth, no change. So, they’re there, but I’m open to discussion,” he said. “I’ll sure listen and talk and try to appease them, but, at the same time, I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be different.”

Besides the enormous task of financing the project, Pedersen still has to convince the City Council to support his vision. Beginning later this month, Pedersen will begin the process of trying to rezone the property for the third time. He’s seeking a change from Residential B zoning to the more intensive Residential C, as well as asking for Professional Office zoning for a portion of the lot. He will also ask the council to vacate a city-owned alley on the lot.

The land located east of Sixth Avenue, held by landowner Steve Holt, is already zoned for commercial use and will not require a rezone. Pedersen currently owns a portion of the property in question and has a purchase option on the church property. He is in negotiation with two other property owners on the site and has formed a cooperative development agreement with Holt.

After two failed trips before the council and one before the Planning Commission, Pedersen realizes convincing the city to support him will be difficult, but he’s confident he will eventually get the rezone.

“I think P and Z is going to be very receptive to it,” he said. “I think they’re pretty practical and logical.”

He is less sure of what the full council’s reaction will be, but said he will find a way to make the project happen.

“Whether it’s this council or the next, I’m not one to quit if I get shot down. So, yeah, I think it will eventually get through,” he said.

Pedersen’s tenacity might not make him many friends on the council, but it shows his unquestionable belief in the value of the project, according to Grimm.

“I’m glad we have folks who are willing to invest in this community and not be deterred by one or two bumps in the road,” Grimm said. “This is a pretty persistent applicant here, and a lot of folks proposing a development of this scale might walk away after hitting the wall a couple of times.”

The proposal will go before the Planning Commission in May and, most likely, before the full council in June.

For more information on the project, call 946-4391 or visit jpcentre.org