Sandpoint is trying to make housing more affordable for year-round residents.
To do that, the mountain town is finding inspiration from its past.
Planner Bill Dean says Sandpoint was originally built with small workforce houses for people working in the timber industry.
Those small houses each had their own small lot.
But after World War II, Dean says the city made its required lot size bigger to create a more suburban feel.
Now, the price of bigger lots means builders have to sell bigger houses—which are houses that today’s workforce can’t afford.
"So what our effort is is exploring the idea of returning to the idea of a smaller lot, enable ourselves to subdivide into smaller increments, and thereby providing the opportunity for a smaller house," Dean said.
Dean wants the city to reduce its lot size requirement from 5,000 square feet to 3,500—roughly the original lot size in town.
“We're trying to step out of the way so that the market can perform," he said. "This enables the market to perform in a new and different way than it is performing today. And by virtue of it being smaller, we're suggesting that the outcome is going to help us move in the direction of affordability.”
Planners are also working on an ordinance that would make it easier for small lots to have a house and an accessory dwelling unit.
They're looking to eradicate specific building footprint requirements and only set limits on "impervious surfaces"—anything from buildings to patios to driveways.
Planners want to raise the maximum impervious surface limit—maybe up to 70%—to give landowners and homebuilders more flexibility.
Planning Director Jason Welker says the average lot size in Sandpoint is 7,000 square feet, but current zoning makes it difficult to put more than one living unit on the entire lot—maybe you could squeeze in one ADU.
"But going through this amendment process, that 7,000 square foot lot could be subdivided into two lots, and then a primary dwelling unit and accessory dwelling unit could be provided on those two lots," he said. "So you've gone from the maximum potential of one house with an ADU—doubling that density to two houses each with an ADU under the proposed amendments."
In other words, he says, you've doubled the amount of people who can live on a square foot of land in the city.
Sandpoint City Council worries the ordinance would have the reverse effect—that lifted restrictions would result in sprawling "McMansions" with huge building footprints.
Welker and Dean say that is a possibility. But they're trying to "liberalize" the code to let owners and the market decide what kind of housing to build—and Welker thinks it will trend smaller, not bigger.
"If the market demand on people's property is to build a bigger house for the two, three, or four people that live there, that is going to be a right that they can enjoy following these amendments," he said. "But we see examples all over town where the market demand is often for more housing because there's more income to be made from providing more housing."
Welker and his team are still tweaking numbers, but hope the Planning and Zoning Commission will make a recommendation to City Council before the end of the year.
