City postpones 'Greenprint' support

SANDPOINT — The "Greater Sandpoint Area Greenprint" failed to garner support Wednesday from City Council members after several community members came forward with concerns regarding the community engagement and purpose of the report.

The individuals' main concern was they had not heard of the Greenprint report until it was placed on this week's City Council meeting agenda. They also questioned the intent of the report, which details areas of the county prioritized for land conservation.

Aaron Qualls, the city's planning and economic development director, said the Greenprint is a way to prioritize areas for voluntary land conservation and can also help with grant opportunities.

"It's not a regulatory map, by any means; it's not limited to one specific goal and it's not related to taking private property," Qualls said.

Councilman Bob Camp was concerned that while the report states "voluntary land conservation," that it would be a step toward mandatory conservation by private landowners. Camp said he spent 35 years as an environmentalist in public health and has nothing against clean air and clean water, but has become "cynical" of state and federal agencies after watching, for example, many of the approximately 100 dairies in the five northwestern counties he worked in shut down due to state and federal regulations.

"Over the years I've witnessed turf wars between the local governments, state and federal on rules and regulation and who had the power to do this," Camp said. "... I just don't see the need for something like this because I think it's redundant. If someone wants to have a conservation easement or protect their property, the agencies and everything is available to them right now, that we don't need another layer of so-called voluntary commitments."

Qualls assured council members that the Greenprint is not a "plan" and is not a federal- or state-instigated plan. He said it is simply information in a report. In the approximately 35-page report, it does state on Page 6 that "Greenprints are community-driven conservation plans. Through Greenprinting, communities make informed decisions about protecting important resources, including water quality, open space, working lands and trails." There is also an "action plan" listed in the report on Page 26.

Finalized in 2016, the Greenprint report was initiated in 2014 coordinated by the Idaho Conservation League, Kaniksu Land Trust, the Trust for Public Land and the planning departments for the cities of Sandpoint and Ponderay. It focuses on 94,500 acres including Sandpoint, Ponderay, Kootenai, Dover, Hope, East Hope, and spanning even further into Bonner County to include much of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest and Selkirk recreation areas.

The four main goals of the Greenprint are to maintain water quality in the study area, provide recreation, protect wildlife habitat and preserve working lands.

A community survey was administered in the fall of 2014 at local events including the Farmers' Market, Oktoberfest, Toast the Trail, Sandpoint Film Festival, Angels and Nordic events, ski swaps, Hope Memorial and Trails Passage and Panhandle Bank. In total, 560 people responded; though, as some of the community members who spoke during Wednesday's City Council meeting pointed out, 321 of those were from Sandpoint. The community members felt the Greenprint would have a greater effect on those outside of the city, those who live in rural areas near rivers and wildlife areas.

Council members voted unanimously to postpone the resolution to support the Greenprint until the first council meeting in February, so more people in the Greenprint area can read the report and respond.