Downtown Study Due In December

A report detailing possible uses for the city’s downtown property is to be released early next month.

Walker-Macy, a Portland design firm hired to complete the master plan, should deliver its report in early December, said Charlie Nipp, chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Urban Renewal Agency.

“We are waiting to have that report delivered to us,” Nipp said. “Then we will have a public hearing the first part of January to receive public comment on the plan.”

The plan will suggest possible uses for city-owned McEuen Field, City Park, the Third Street boat ramp, Independence Point, Memorial Field and a strip of land along Northwest Boulevard.

The notion of redeveloping downtown Coeur d’Alene has sparked fierce debate over preserving public green space along the lakeshore - specifcally McEuen Field. Supporters of urban renewal say downtown needs to become more enticing to shoppers.

Charlie Roan, founder of the McEuen Preservation Alliance, said he wants to reserve comment until he sees the plan.

In May, the urban renewal agency held two workshops and an open house in downtown Coeur d’Alene to gather public comment, Nipp noted.

Ideas have included an underground parking garage, a city convention center and conversion of City Hall into a library.

The urban renewal agency will make suggestions to the Coeur d’Alene City Council, Nipp said.

“There will be - and we want and encourage - ample opportunity for public input,” Nipp said.