Residents question need for street project

SANDPOINT — Public input changed the course of a street project here recently, and city officials and residents hope the turn of events is indicative of how future projects are planned.

The Washington Avenue project, an $800,000 paving and sidewalk plan for the north side of town, would have required the removal of old trees, driveways and private fences, but residents in the project’s corridor loudly objected.

Opposition to the project, which was set to begin this fall and includes city storm water upgrades from Main to Walnut streets, did not fall on deaf ears.

City council put the work on hold, at least until members gather more input from residents along the seven-block corridor, council member John Reuter said.

“Our goal is to work with residents to create a project that they see beneficial to their neighborhood and mitigating any concerns they have,” Reuter said. “We are delaying the project to make sure we have time to have a full conversation.”

The project, which will be paid with property tax money, would be the first major street work in the northern part of town in 30 years, council members said.

It would include adding five-foot sidewalks and a green belt on the west side of the street, and a 10-foot sidewalk and bike path on the east side.

Residents objected to the massive cuts into their yards and driveways at a recent public hearing.

Martin Zimmerman was among neighborhood homeowners who protested the plan.

Zimmerman, who lives in the corner of Hickory and Washington said if the city proceeded as planned with its modernization of the old part of town, it would meet face to face with zoning codes established in the 1960s.

“We’ll have half a driveway,” Zimmerman said. “Everyone here, we’ll lose all our parking.”

Zimmerman understands that the city would work within its right of way, but when his home was built in the 1970s, there were no need for sidewalks, and each residence had room for an ample driveway.

Sidewalks, he says, are still not necessary.

“We’re a block away from a major thoroughfare,” he said.

He can hear the noise from Division Avenue with its wide street, steady traffic flow, bike route and sidewalks from his yard.

Zimmerman would like to see his street resurfaced, he said, but thinks widening is overkill.

“It’s not something we want to see,” he said.

A few houses away, Rodney Bristow is moving out.

“They can have it,” Bristow said.

He owns several vehicles including a long trailer and motor home that he parks in the driveway.

If the project was pushed through, he said, there would be no place to park his vehicles.

He sold the house to his son and is moving out of town, he said.

His decision is based, at least in part, on the city street project.

“That was the last straw, Bristow said.

On the other side of the street, Darrell Ewing, who has lived in a blue mobile home here since 1978, said the project would cut the roots of his two large maple trees.

“The first west wind, and they would be on my roof,” he said.

The proposed sidewalk would take away his parking lot, he said.

“It would be impossible to park in front of the garage,” he said.

Bob and Linda LaFore have lived within three blocks of their present home at 1111 Washington all there lives.

“She grew up a block down the street, and I grew up over there,” LaFlore says pointing south.

The north side of town has always been working class neighborhoods, he said.

When he and his wife were children, a creek ran through the neighborhood on its way to the lake, but the creek was covered with asphalt and homes and chanelled to underground pipes, he said.

He believes city storm water concerns are legitimate, but does not see the need for wide sidewalks in a place where garages, driveways, shops and even homes — built by old city standards — are already nudging the city right of way.

“We don’t need curbs and we don’t want sidewalks,” LaFlore said.

He thinks the planned street work will push up property values and taxes.

“Most people that live here, can’t afford to live anywhere else,” LaFlore said. “This is only putting more stress on them.”

He owns several vehicles, the neighbors across the street own six, and as passers by walk north or south the number of pickups, trailers and family cars crammed into driveways builds.

“Right now, there are no cars parked on the street,” he said.

If the project proceeded as planned, the street would be jammed with vehicles, because it would be the only place to park.

In winter, he said, residents would have to move the vehicles for snow removal.

“You would end up with a funnel here,” he said.

He and his wife would like to see the street resurfaced. No more, no less.

“They should take that money and fix the old sidewalks in town that have been there forever,” he said. “Not build new ones.”

In the city’s public works department, Bruce Robertson is drafting new plans for Washington Avenue.

The plans include narrower, less intrusive sidewalks.

“Basically the public didn’t want the sidewalks,” Robertson said. “It is all a draft. We are moving stuff around by the foot.”

He was asked to draw five-foot-wide sidewalks that meander to avoid trees and buildings.

The drawings will be ready for the Sept. 1 public works meeting.

“It is all real tentative,” Robertson said.

The public will get more chances for involvement in the process, Reuter said.

In a way, the Washington project is a model for future projects that could rely more heavily on the involvement of residents, he said.

“This could be a model of how we do street development in the city,” Reuter said. “We will talk more with residents and have greater communication, and bring residents in, even earlier in the process.”

Residents like Zimmerman and LaFlore are not holding their breaths.

“They think they are doing us a favor, but this is not a favor, knocking out our driveway,” Zimmerman said.

Sitting on a shaded porch behind a weeping birch and apple tree in his front yard — trees that could be slated for removal — LaFlore ponders the changing landscape.

“It’s kind of hard for us to swallow,” he said. “This does not affect them, but we will have to live with it forever.”