Farmin's Landing options

SANDPOINT — The city purchased Farmin's Landing in 2015 with the purpose of pre-treating stormwater and stabilizing the bank along Sand Creek.

Last year, the city was awarded a $25,000 planning grant by the LOR Foundation to support the development of a conceptual design and public involvement process. City officials presented two conceptual designs Thursday morning at the Little Panida Theater, attended primarily by business and property owners in the Farmin's Landing area.

"I think this is a really exciting project," said Mayor Shelby Rognstad. "It gives us a great opportunity to address a lot of issues with this project."

In addition to protecting the shoreline and treating stormwater, Rognstad said it could allow opportunity to maintain or improve parking, improve the safety and connectivity for multimodal access, as well as aesthetic improvement.

City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said the city is still in the early stages of conceptual design, so the concepts presented were in "no way" the final design. The meeting was intended to get feedback to guide the next round of concepts, leading into the final design phase at which time the city will begin to have an idea of what the project will cost.

"This, we anticipate, is going to be a very expensive project and we are going to have to be looking at securing outside funds in order to pull this off," Stapleton said.

The two designs, presented by Public Works director Amanda Wilson, were similar in both would push the bank further out, which would also allow the parking area to be widened. The dock would be extended out and stormwater planters would line the area between the dock and parking area. A multimodal pathway would connect to the path on Bridge Street.

Gunning's Alley at Farmin's Landing currently serves as a thorofare for traffic, and while one of the concepts retains that access, the other proposes to wall off the south end of the alley that turns on to Bridge Street. While both concepts would allow for additional parking, walling off the south end would make room for even more parking spaces, Wilson said. Some were concerned about deliveries, however, and Wilson said the delivery trucks should be able to turn and back in, or park out front in the red zone temporarily.

Snow removal, employee parking, and creating a space that could be closed off for events were also taken into consideration as the group looked over the two concepts. In the end, Wilson said they would look at both concepts with the feedback heard on Thursday, and vet the ideas further to come up with another draft design for a future public meeting.

"We don't want to negatively impact anybody substantially," Wilson said.

Wilson said there is always the option of simply doing bank stabilization and water treatment, leaving everything else as is, which would be the least expensive option. The additional components such as the path, she said, are in line with the city's goals to make the area "more functional to the overall community."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.