Sandpoint voters get say on bank

Curt Hecker, CEO of Panhandle State Bank, has an ambitious vision for the future of his rapidly growing bank. Starting in Sandpoint, Hecker wants to build financial centers that offer one-stop “knowledge centers” for customers to take care of their banking, investment and legal needs.

Last week, Hecker unveiled an architectural rendering of his vision – a city-block-size building rooted in underground parking and capped with penthouses that surround a four-story atrium. The $40 million building would contain a large community meeting room with a cafeteria and state-of-the-art technology for teleconferencing.

Whether the flagship financial center should be built in Sandpoint is something Sandpoint voters will consider this week as they visit City Hall for a highly unusual advisory election.

The Sandpoint City Council is scheduled to vote May 18 on a proposed ordinance that would allow developers to apply for a conditional use permit to exceed the current 45-foot height limit on buildings.

Critics fear that allowing the taller buildings will damage Sandpoint’s small-town character and destroy the mountain views from wherever they are built. They also worry that the bank has too much influence on the legislative process.

Hecker has said he would have to move his headquarters elsewhere, or at least drastically scale back his plans, if the city doesn’t offer some flexibility on the height issue.

Panhandle State Bank is growing rapidly, and its supporters don’t want to lose the opportunity to bring more jobs to downtown Sandpoint. In 2004 alone, the homegrown bank increased its assets 45.5 percent to $596 million.

At the council’s last meeting, City Clerk Helen Newton urged the council to take the matter before the voters. It’s been a dozen years since the city last held a weeklong advisory vote. Voters then backed the Sand Creek route for the controversial U.S. Highway 95 bypass.

“Now the City Council is faced with another issue that has the potential to impact the future of the community for decades to come,” Newton told the council. The council later voted unanimously in favor of her suggestion to hold the nonbinding advisory vote.

City resident Gretchen Hellar, who testified at a recent council meeting against the proposed ordinance, applauds the decision to open up a process that she and others say is tainted with conflicts of interest. The proposed ordinance, to increase the height limit to 60 feet with special permits, seems designed to accommodate the bank’s desire to build higher, she said, and certain council members could have a vested interest in the outcome.

Some city officials argue that the legislative process, unlike a quasi-judicial process, allows council members with potential conflicts of interest to vote on the matter. Councilman Chuck Spickelmire is relying on that legal argument to justify his decision to vote on the ordinance at the next council meeting.

Spickelmire’s wife works for Panhandle State Bank, and council member Cindy Elliott is an attorney with the firm that represents the bank. Her partner, Ford Elsaesser, sits on the bank’s board of directors.

Elsaesser’s assistant said Friday, however, that Elsaesser is not representing the bank in the building project. She and Hecker also quashed rumors that the firm is planning to be a tenant in the new financial center.

Elliott could not be reached for comment Friday, but Spickelmire said he has no qualms about voting on the proposed ordinance after being assured by the city attorney and another outside attorney that his wife’s employment has no bearing on the legislative matter.

When asked how he’ll vote, Spickelmire said, “I will not know that until the night we vote, until I hear all the information.”

If the ordinance passes, the bank will have to come before the council again to obtain a conditional use permit to exceed the 45-foot height limit. At that point it’s a quasi-judicial matter, Spickelmire said, and he will declare a conflict and not vote.

Unable to vote in the election are the many people who do business in Sandpoint and own property there but live outside the city limits.

The Bonner County Economic Development Corp., of which Hecker is a board member, has started a petition drive to give nonresidents a way to show their support for relaxing the height limit.

“We think it’s important that businesses have the opportunity to build up higher so we can maintain the jobs,” said the EDC’s executive director, Mark Williams.

Opponents don’t see why the bank can’t keep those jobs and grow with three stories or less.

“They said they needed four stories to house all their employees,” Hellar said. “It turns out only a story or a story and a half will be used for their employees.”

The rest of the building is for leased offices and retail space, while the top two stories would be condominiums and penthouses.

“I don’t know why they had to present it as, ‘If you don’t give me four stories, I’m moving out of town,’ ” she said.

Hecker said the two floors of residential units will offset the enormous cost of underground parking.

“For us to reasonably park ourselves and employees, we needed more parking than was available on that lot,” he said, referring to the city block that now holds Harold’s IGA, which will be demolished to make way for the bank’s expansion.

Hecker said each parking space in an underground lot costs about $25,000 to $30,000. A quarter of the building’s cost is eaten up in the garage, he said.

The new building would allow the bank to consolidate most of its administrative operations and 75 Sandpoint employees in one place.

The bank has grown from four branches in 1999 to 15 branches with about 300 employees. Hecker anticipates adding another 35 to 40 employees in Sandpoint over the next couple of years.

Some folks would rather Hecker’s bank grew up somewhere else.

“Because of what one person can gain, someone else is going to lose – their view,” said John Elsa, a vocal critic who delivered more than 400 signatures opposed to the ordinance to the city.

“My bottom line is the people really need to be the ones to give their vote on it, without being influenced by potential loss of jobs and so on.”