Sandpoint council adopts comp plan

SANDPOINT — The city has a new roadmap for the coming decades. 

The Sandpoint City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt its first new comprehensive plan since 2009. After enduring five years of development and several setbacks, the plan will guide the council as it makes decisions over the next 10-20 years. 

After the vote passed, many in the audience and several members of the council broke into applause. During a short recess following the vote, Mayor Jeremy Grimm celebrated by high fiving with councilors. 

“I am very proud. We all stand on the shoulders of people who have worked on this for years,” Grimm said at the meeting. 

Prior to the vote, a brief hearing was held to receive last-minute suggestions from the community. Jennifer Ekstrom, north Idaho director of the Idaho Conservation League, was the lone commenter. 

Ekstrom encouraged the council to add language that emphasized the urgency of Sandpoint’s need for a new wastewater treatment plant. 

Ekstrom also suggested including a phrase stating that the city intends to comply with federal regulations for stormwater treatment as Sandpoint approaches a new population threshold. She also suggested slightly revising a goal in the plan to emphasize the need to educate the public about stormwater pollution prevention. 

All three revisions were later accepted by the council and integrated into the plan. 

After the six-minute hearing concluded, Grimm shared his analysis of the community feedback process. “I guess our public engagement was either thorough or missed the mark entirely.” 

Councilor Pam Duquette went on to suggest the addition of a definition for “heritage tree” to the comp plan, which was supported by the council. 

The final revision to the plan was an amendment to language surrounding the Little Sand Creek watershed recreation master plan. 

The comp plan originally specified that the Little Sand Creek plan would be “reviewed and revised” along with several other master plans. Council President Deb Ruehle pushed for the comp plan to state that the Little Sand Creek plan would not be reviewed and revised but instead “implemented.” 

Ruehle cited public support of the existing state of the Little Sand Creek plan as the reason for the change.  

“In that watershed plan, it seems like we did a pretty darn good job of that and it was completed very recently,” the president said. 

The Little Sand Creek plan primarily aims to protect or enhance the water quality in an area immediately northwest of Sandpoint. The plan also includes a vision for preserving and potentially improving recreation opportunities. 

No councilors voiced opposition and the revision was incorporated into the plan. 

Now that the comp plan has been adopted, it can — and likely will — be amended or revised by the current council or future councils. For now, many members of Sandpoint’s local government are relieved to have finally gotten the project over the last hurdle. 

“Even in our disagreements at the meetings, I appreciated how they were handled with maturity,” said Councilor Joel Aispuro. “Kudos to everybody involved — thank you.” 

The council will meet next 5:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at City Hall, 1123 Lake St.