City rejects BID petition

SANDPOINT — The city will not sign off on a request to abolish a local business tax despite the written appeal of many downtown businesses.

The latest petition to dissolve Sandpoint’s business improvement district was rejected by city administrators on the grounds that some of the signatures gathered could not be verified by the city’s counsel as being from the business’ owners.

In some cases the businesses had closed, or were no longer active, according to the city.

 Rich Curtis, broker at Exit Realty, one of the petitioners, accused the city of nitpicking.

“They are trying to play loopholes,” Curtis said.

The city kicked out the signature of Pam Lueck, who co-owns Joe’s Philly Cheesesteak with her husband, John.

The city collects the tax for the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association, which uses the BID money to promote and beautify downtown, according to the DSBA.

Lueck was unsure why her signature on the petition was not honored.

“Idaho is a community property state,” she said. “They cash my checks for the tax.”

Darcy L. Peters, co-owner of The Loading Dock, signed the petition but her signature was also nullified because, according to the city, the seasonal business was closed when the city tried to verify signatures.

The Loading Dock opened last week for the summer season and is renting space to other entities, including Mad Mike’s Java Joint.

“I’m trying to lease space, to grow the downtown,” she said. “I’m paying for the building and I’m paying for the square footage.”

She was dismayed that her signature on the petition was deemed invalid.

“Why throw it out when I own the building?” she asked.

The signatures of other business owners such as Dale Pyne of D.P. Realty, were also dropped because, in the case of D.P., the city deemed the business closed.

D.P. still operates in the same space at 212 N. First Ave., under a different banner.

The city received 151 signatures on the petition that circulated for 75 days until April 2, including 54 signatures that included business names and addresses on sheets of paper with no heading stating the objective of the signers.

Those signatures were deemed invalid, according to the city.

 Mayor Gretchen Hellar, in a letter to City Council, said the latest petition did not include enough valid signatures to disband the BID.

“The city clerk has ruled, and both I and Will (Herrington) concur that an insufficient number of valid petitions were submitted to disband the BID,” the mayor wrote.

Hellar said the 17 signatures were declared invalid immediately. In addition, only 39.75 percent of BID billing was represented by the petitioners.

BID billing is based on square footage of business space, which results in more weight given to the signatures of owners, or managers, of large spaces.

Hellar pointed out that petitioners can still take their plea to City Council members.

“The council can still dissolve the district of so desired,” the mayor wrote.

Curtis said the more than 51 percent petitioners who signed on, have long had a problem with the way Idaho Code is written. State law allows business owners with larger offices more clout in the process than those with smaller offices.

That means that the number of signatures on a petition — more than the required 51 percent of downtown businesses — is less important than the square footage they represent.

Signatures that were deemed invalid include those of Jeremy Holzapfel, manager of the Sandpoint Starbucks, Junior Solis, owner of The Spar and The Dive, as well as Tom Harvill, vice president of the local AmericanWest Bank on grounds that they either did not own the business, corporation or enterprise.

Curtis plans to bring his grievances before the City Council’s administration committee Wednesday.