Council OKs replat for affordable housing parcel
SANDPOINT — The low-income housing development planned for a vacant lot northeast of Super 1 is back on track after last Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Council members approved developer Whitewater Creek’s request to replat the property, owned by Prudential Real Estate, into 10 subdivisions. At 26 acres, it remains the largest undeveloped parcel in Sandpoint. Whitewater Creek aims to change that starting with the northeastern corner lot, which will serve as the building ground for a collection of 50 LEED Platinum-certified low-income housing units.
“Overall, I’m in support of this project and I’m curious to see what happens in the next phases,” Councilman Justin Schuck said.
Clocking in at more than two hours, the discussion required persistence before the council finalized its decisions. While council members expressed support for the project, they wanted to ensure that the developers followed through with a set of improvements tied into the previous lot platting. The lack of available bonds for the project also gave the council members pause.
However, after extensive discussion, city officials arrived at a series of amendments to protect the city’s interests while allowing Whitewater Creek to get started on construction this spring.
The developer will have to complete construction on a Chestnut Street extension from Boyer Avenue to the eastern property limits, a Sixth Avenue extension north of Chestnut Street to the northern property limits, a bike path from Larch Street through Sixth Avenue extending to Boyer Avenue and the installation of the sewer line servicing the area.
In regard to the bike path, the council specified that it be 10 feet wide and constructed along North Sixth Avenue to the upper-right corner of the northwest lot, where it will then extend westward to Boyer Avenue.
Finally, the Sixth Avenue extension between Super 1 and lots 2, 3, 4 and 5 directly to the east must be completed before developers can receive a certificate of occupancy on those subdivisions.
Aside from assurances that the desired infrastructure improvements will happen, council members discussed whether or not to enforce a requirement for some kind of security on the project.
“Without that security in some way, shape or form, we don’t have a guarantee that the development will be finished in a responsible manner,” City Planner Jeremy Grimm said.
In more prosperous times, the city required that developments of this magnitude be secured by bonds. However, the bond market shrank greatly in the wake of the financial crisis.
“It’s very, very difficult for developers to get bonding these days,” City Treasurer Shannon Syth said.
Although city officials discussed different forms of securities like credit, escrow or stock bonds, they ultimately took no action on the alternatives.
With the parcel replatting official, developers and land owners are eager to begin work they said would bring great benefits to Sandpoint. According to owner representative Raphael Barta, the upcoming residential housing will bring new construction jobs to the town and flush its coffers with $4 million in impact fees alone. Furthermore, the development will bring more reasonably-priced housing, complete with a program ensuring individuals under a certain income level only pay 30 percent of their monthly wages in rent, to low-income individuals.
“This could end up being the template for some of our other properties around the country,” said Jim Street, vice-president of dispositions at Prudential Real Estate.