Ponderay receives $75,000 IDPR grant

PONDERAY — Ponderay officials are confident that a new $75,000 grant will bring the third Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail parcel within reach.

Ponderay officials announced Wednesday that they had received a Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation grant after months of anticipation. Based on money from Federal Highway Administration, the grant makes the acquisition of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail’s third parcel a very realistic possibility, according to Ponderay city planner Erik Brubaker.

“Everyone here is kind of ecstatic,” he said. “This is really a game-changer.”

The grant is a positive development for trail supporters, who are hoping the city of Ponderay will contribute to the process of completing the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail. Under the terms of the deal worked out two years ago by Sandpoint officials, the city of Sandpoint was obligated to buy the first two parcels of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail — commitments council members have already held up. Ponderay was projected to handle the third parcel, while nonprofit group the Friends of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail agreed to fundraise the cost of the final parcel. Each of the four parcels carried a price tag of $400,000.  

While Ponderay council members have expressed support for the idea of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, they’ve also been hesitant about using city tax dollars to purchase it. However, Brubaker believes that with the addition of this grant, those concerns have been mitigated. That’s because the city worked out an agreement with the Friends of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, which agreed to assist the city with purchasing the third parcel if they reallocated those funds a year later when it came time to buy the fourth parcel. This agreement gives Ponderay more time to collect the appropriate revenue sources for the purchase, Brubaker said.

“It’s not a huge chunk of money based on the city’s budget, but it is a huge chunk to come up with given three years’ notice,” he added.

As for the remaining money, Brubaker said the rest of the parcel cost can be covered through impact fees and bed tax revenue, which draws income from guests staying at hotels. Impact fee revenue must be spent on capital improvements, while by Idaho law, bed tax revenue must be used on projects that promote tourism and increase hotel stays. By those definitions, Brubaker said the trail was an appropriate project and has received the stamp of approval from local hotels.

Ponderay officials originally applied for the grant in January and have been waiting for a reply for the past five months. The application process was aided by dozens of support letters from local organizations and officials like Sen. Shawn Keough. Eventually, Ponderay officials learned that their application ranked first among 52 trails projects and was one of 34 submissions to ultimately receive funding.

“Years of public attention to this project have been building momentum, and in this case, it paid off,” Brubaker said.

Both Ponderay officials and the Friends of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail expressed appreciation at the level of community support that led to the successful application. According to Brubaker and Ponderay Mayor Carol Kunzeman, both the grant and the trail are great examples of what inter-community cooperation can achieve.

“This is a win for the whole community,” said Kunzeman. “I’d really like to thank Sandpoint for their leadership, the Friends of the Pend d’ Oreille Bay Trail and everyone else who has helped make this possible.”