Attorney: Dive's balcony unfairly targeted

SANDPOINT — The Dive’s balcony is being targeted by the state as an encroachment while other similar downtown structures are getting a free pass, according to the establishment’s attorney.

In a letter to Idaho Department of Transportation District Engineer Damon Allen, the attorney representing The Dive, said the restaurant’s awning is a temporary structure that served as an awning for decades. It is similar to several others along the First Avenue corridor.

The awning along Sandpoint’s main thoroughfare, which doubles as Highway 95, was converted to a balcony in May.

“My client has a concern that it is being singled out,” Sandpoint attorney John A. Finney wrote in the June 10 letter.

A balcony supported by brick pillars exists a block south of The Dive and seems to have the same encroachment issues, Finney wrote.

In addition, several awnings line the downtown avenue including the Panida Theater’s projection and awnings over storefronts to the north on the east side of the highway, he said.

“It is unclear if you are asserting that just the balcony is an issue, or if the long-existing awning is somehow now an issue,” Finney wrote.

He said the city supported the idea of having outside seating at the First Avenue establishment.

“It seems a reasonable use, particularly given that the Sandpoint bypass is under construction and downtown Sandpoint on First Avenue and Cedar Street will soon have its heavy traffic alleviated,” Finney wrote.

But the state will not address Finney’s concerns until his client, Lex Sparks, who owns the businesses in the Pastime Bar and Grill building that include Oishii, Spar Bar, and The Dive, passes step one.

“He needs an encroachment permit from the state,” Allen said.

The issues raised in Finney’s letter are irrelevant, Allen said, because the first point to be addressed is the lack of a permit.

“All other points are moot, until we get an application,” he said.

Contractors were approved for construction by the city, but the approval was for engineering, he said.

“They received a building permit from the city,” he said. “They need an encroachment permit from the state.”

The state sent an application form to the owners, and the owners replied, but the completed forms were never received by the Idaho Transportation Department, Allen said.

“Once they are in the process, they can get an answer from the state and appeal, or work their way through, if they are denied,” he said.

The state has the power to require removal of illegal encroachments.