Memorial Field planning session set

SANDPOINT — A Memorial Field planning session will open Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

The first of many planning meetings to come, the session will help council members and contracted architectural firm James A. Sewell and Associates come to an understanding on design parameters and logistics. The meeting will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Sandpoint City Hall, followed by the regular City Council meeting at 5:30 p.m.

According to a meeting plan presented to the council, architects and engineers hope to establish a consensus on several points, including the project’s size, location, appearance and budget parameters.

Seating capacity is one major point to clarify, as it will have a significant impact on the project budget. The idea is to increase grandstand size from 875 seats to between 1,000 and 1,500, but at a project cost of about $1,500 per seat, expanded size is a spendy proposition. Increased size means an increased building footprint, so grandstand location is another consideration.

The fate of locker rooms and storage building will also have to be decided, as they may impede grandstand expansion.

As for project appearance, project designers want to specify guidelines for column locations to reduce or eliminate line-of-sight obstructions.

Other considerations include placement of a building code-required third entrance, seating width and design, allowing some open-air bleachers for cost savings and identifying construction materials.

Finally, designers hope to secure numbers for a potential parking expansion, find a budget threshold and establish whether or not phasing the planning and construction is an option.

Following the Memorial Field meeting, council members will take on their regularly scheduled duties. The biggest item of the evening will be the vote to approve Deb Fragoso as a council member. Appointed by Mayor Carrie Logan to take over her vacant council seat, Fragoso’s nomination must be confirmed by members before she is sworn into office.

Council members will also examine a resolution to throw city support behind a resolution advocating the state to establish an integrated milfoil management treatment, including the use of bottom barriers and diver dredging.

Finally, Planning Director Jeremy Grimm will give an overview of hearing procedures, due process, ex-parte contact, bias and conflict of interest — especially as they relate to public hearings.