Thursday, March 28, 2024
43.0°F

“The Little City with a Big Future”

by STEVE GEIGER Contributing Writer
| March 31, 2021 1:00 AM

Last election, our city passed the local option tax and our first year of revenue from that tax amounted to a little over $2.5 million.

These funds will be used To help in the development of our field of dreams project which will consist of soccer fields, baseball fields, a future indoor recreation facility, and many other outdoor activities.

It will also help the city gain lakeshore access through a tunnel under the railroad tracks behind the Hoot Owl where the city has its annual Ponderay Neighbor Days. Without these funds backed by our community we would not have been able to do this. We have been awarded the $1.4 million grant for the underpass design and engineering for that project.

The city is also working on the Black Rock cleanup grant that we received and will be referring to it as our “front yard project,” which opens up our city to the shoreline of Lake Pend Oreille.

We are looking at having a very busy year in development within our city. We currently have around 70 homes going in to the Bay Retreat project next to the Elks Golf Course and 32 townhomes going in across from the Better Together Animal Alliance (formerly Panhandle Animal Shelter), as well as several smaller commercial buildings currently being developed.

Up and coming we will see 90 new apartments that will be coming in as well as a Wendy’s fast food restaurant.

Just recently our city re-zoned the McNearney neighborhood portion of our city, which will include more opportunities for residential development north of Kootenai Cutoff Road.

In closing I will say that it is going to be a challenging next few years given the amount of growth we are currently experiencing. But if we can all remember what the old bumper sticker used to say

”Calm down, you're in Idaho now” — we will all be just fine.

It has been an honor serving the city of Ponderay as mayor — it is an experience I will never forget.

I would not be able to do this job without our amazing staff at the City Hall and Ponderay Police Department. I thank you all very much.

Steve Geiger is mayor of the city of Ponderay.