What’s happening with parking at City Beach?

Recent op-eds have accused the city of Sandpoint of "privatizing" City Beach and making it less accessible to the public through a proposed paid parking policy. The city's Planning and Community Development Department wants to clarify the facts and provide insight into the real issue: improving access for residents, managing peak-season demand, and ensuring sustainable funding for public parking infrastructure. 

City Beach: A public resource in need of investment 

City Beach has been a public park for over a century, donated to Sandpoint in 1922 by Northern Pacific Railroad. The city formally took over its maintenance from the Lions Club in 1986, and while incremental improvements have been made over the years, the park's core infrastructure — including parking lots, pathways, boat ramps, and landscaping — has suffered from long-term neglect. 

The 2010 Parks Master Plan outlined much-needed improvements, including repaving the parking lot, planting shade trees, enhancing stormwater management, and upgrading playground equipment. However, due to funding constraints, few of these projects have been completed. A 2020 update to the Parks Master Plan proposed an ambitious $28 million overhaul, but under Mayor Grimm’s leadership, the city is now taking a more practical approach — focusing on essential infrastructure improvements that can be funded through available resources. 

Parking infrastructure and management challenges 

City Beach and downtown Sandpoint face significant parking challenges, especially during peak summer months. While parking is currently free, this comes at a cost — both in maintenance and in accessibility for residents. Without a structured parking management plan, spaces fill up quickly, often leaving local residents struggling to find parking. 

A 2022 Parking Study identified key issues, including: 

• High demand for parking at City Beach and in downtown, especially on weekends and during the tourist season. 
• Deferred maintenance in public parking lots, with aging pavement, faded striping, and inadequate landscaping. 
• A lack of sustainable funding to maintain or improve off-street public parking facilities.

The study also recommended implementing a parking management strategy to improve access and generate revenue for maintaining public parking lots. 

The need for a sustainable funding model 

The city’s proposed parking policy, which would introduce paid parking in five off-street lots, including at City Beach, has been framed as a barrier to access. In reality, it is a solution to two ongoing problems: a shortage of available parking spaces during peak tourist season, when out-of-area visitors occupy upwards of 80% of off-street parking stalls, and the lack of sustainable funding for ongoing maintenance and improvements. 

Currently, all funding for parking lot maintenance comes from general city tax revenues, meaning local taxpayers foot the bill, while visitors contribute nothing beyond hotel bed taxes. 

The proposed parking management system would shift some of this financial burden to non-residents. Under this policy: 

• Sandpoint residents and non-residents alike could purchase affordable annual passes, providing two hours of free parking daily at city lots. 
• Marina users, downtown employees, and full-time downtown residents would have separate pass options for all-day access. 
• Visitors who do not purchase a pass would pay for parking, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to fund maintenance and improvements.

This approach aligns with the 2024 Comprehensive Plan, which prioritizes “enhancing access to businesses, shops, restaurants, and other destinations through parking management solutions.” 

Without a revenue source, there is no guarantee that public parking facilities, especially at City Beach, will remain well-maintained. Free parking is not truly “free;” it requires resources to maintain. The proposed policy ensures that Sandpoint residents see a direct benefit from their tax dollars while also requiring visitors to contribute to the infrastructure they use. 

Why parking reform matters for the future 

A well-managed parking system will improve access for local residents, ensuring that available spaces are used efficiently rather than being overwhelmed by non-residents during peak months. It will also provide long-overdue infrastructure investments, such as resurfacing, restriping, landscaping, and stormwater improvements at City Beach and downtown. 

Opposition to this plan has largely been based on the misconception that charging for parking is equivalent to restricting access. In reality, improving parking availability and quality enhances public access, not the other way around. 

While much attention has been given to how the proposed hotel near City Beach fits into this discussion, it is important to clarify that the hotel’s parking decisions are separate from the city’s proposed parking policy. The hotel intends to provide a quantity of parking stalls that satisfies the level of peak demand, a number determined through an engineering study that looked at occupancy rates at similar hotels in the region. No “handouts” or “giveaways” were provided to the hotel; rather, they employed tools available to them in City Code to determine the actual level of parking that will be required, then offered to pay in lieu fees to the City’s Parking Improvement Fund in the amount of $10,000 per space below what was originally proposed ($400,000 in total), which will help fund improvements to public parking facilities. While the hotel’s current plan does include fewer parking spaces than was initially proposed, it still provides ample parking based on the actual anticipated level of demand among hotel users. 

The conversation about parking at City Beach should focus on how best to manage demand, maintain infrastructure, and ensure fair access for residents and visitors alike. A paid parking system, with provisions to protect local access, is a reasonable and responsible approach to achieving those goals. 

The city of Sandpoint welcomes public feedback on this proposal and encourages residents to engage in discussions based on facts, not fear. The future of City Beach depends on sustainable, well-planned solutions, not just maintaining the status quo. 

Jason Welker is the Planning & Community Development director for the city of Sandpoint.