Efforts aim to keep Trinity at City Beach
(File photo/CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Trinity at City Beach is home to events such as Beerfest, as pictured in this 2017 file photo. The restaurant owner, community members and city officials are hopeful that Trinity will maintain its location at City Beach with the planned demolition and rebuild of the Best Western Edgewater Resort next year.
SANDPOINT — The fate of Trinity at City Beach has been in question since it was revealed that the Best Western Edgewater Resort will be torn down and replaced next year when the 2020 summer season comes to a close.
As City Beach is part of the city’s Parks and Recreation master planning effort, a number of comments were made in support of the beach-front restaurant during Wednesday night’s public meeting regarding the plan.
“We at the city support the notion of keeping a restaurant down there, of having public amenities down there and events down there,” City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said in response to the comments. “That is something we continue to work on and I think you will see some different options coming forward.”
On Wednesday morning, city officials and their contractor for the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, GreenPlay LLC, met with Trinity owner Justin Dick and representatives from the Cox family, who own the hotel and property.
Dick told the Daily Bee on Thursday that while nothing has been decided yet, a number of opportunities and ideas of how to keep the restaurant at the beach came out at that meeting, as well as in prior meetings with Stapleton and the Cox family. The restaurant may stay in its current location or potentially closer to the water, he said. There is question around swapping some of the private land for public land that would allow for the restaurant to be built, despite the brand of hotel the Cox family ultimately chooses to replace the Best Western with. The problem, he said, is that the various hotel brands are have different rules for restaurants, if they allow them, and many are not open to the configuration Trinity and Best Western have now where they are connected, but independently owned and operated of each other.
“What we are looking at ultimately would be some sort of public/private relationship where City Beach would potentially gain some more parking spots, better boat moorage, possibly more beach area, but would also allow for some of the grass in front of the restaurant, which is city property, where the restaurant could eventually move out closer to the water.”
The master planning effort is a “really amazing” opportunity to think of City Beach as a blank slate, he said, with ideas such as skating rinks, sleigh rides, snowshoe volleyball and more.
“There is a bunch of things we have always wanted to see down at City Beach as it gets so under-utilized for over half the year when it’s snowing,” he said, adding that they will just have to wait and see the results of the master plan. “... I think, first and foremost, the community’s ideas, thoughts, wants and needs need to be touched on before anything happens with the Best Western hotel and Trinity. We just hope that we can be a part of that by affecting positive change.”
Trinity is home to a number of local events and was named an Outstanding Philanthropic Company/Foundation by the Idaho Nonprofit Center in 2018. Dick said he has worked with nearly every major nonprofit in the greater Sandpoint area with in-kind and cash donations, volunteerism, and hosting a number of community events.
Throughout the 2018 year, Trinity participated in or sponsored events such as Dine Out for a Cause with the Bonner Community Food Bank, the Bonner County Historical Society Pub Crawl, Habitat For Humanity House Warming, the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Sandpoint annual fundraiser, the Pend Oreille Bay Trail Fun Run, the Journey of Hope bicycle ride benefiting The Ability Experience, the chamber’s Scenic Half Marathon, the Panhandle Alliance For Education Poker Run, the chamber’s Beerfest, Panhandle Animal Shelter Yappy Hour and the Long Bridge Swim among a number of others.
Overall, Dick said Wednesday’s meeting lent some relief in knowing that there is hope for the restaurant to maintain a location at the beach, to continue holding nonprofit events and providing a lake-front dining experience.
“I think there is a good shot at finding a couple of different ideas that would be a win-win-win starting with the city and the community, and funneling all the way down to Trinity,” Dick said. “So I am pretty darn hopeful after the stakeholder meeting that we had yesterday — I think everybody wants to get something done.”
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.