Downtown Plan Advances Council Ok Allows Proposal To Inch Forward

After several hours of public testimony Tuesday, the Coeur d’Alene City Council voted to accept a consultant’s road map for revamping downtown and the lakefront.

About 100 people showed up for the hearing at Coeur d’Alene High School to pan and praise a city plan prepared by Portland consulting firm Walker-Macy.

The council voted to accept only the “conceptual plan” and not all of the suggestions presented in it.

“Nothing’s set in stone,” Councilman Ron Edinger said.

Among Walker-Macy’s recommendations are building a community plaza in place of the Third Street boat launch site, returning the carousel to Independence Point, moving some parking spaces and lots away from the lakefront and building a downtown library.

The plan also calls for changes to McEuen Field, with a plaza being built on the west border and the six tennis courts being reduced to two.

“The future is in front of us,” Councilman Dave Walker said. “Like any trip, you’ve got to start it with one step.”

But longtime Coeur d’Alene resident Art Manley questioned why council members would approve a conceptual plan when many disagree with integral parts of it.

“This is a very dangerous thing,” Manley said. “What is the concept? It’s dangerous. If it’s done, it’s a bad thing.”

Manley urged the council to leave Independence Point, parking areas and the boat launch site untouched.

His concerns were shared by Bob Ligeza and others in the audience.

“Everything can be upgraded; everything can be more beautiful,” Ligeza said. “Where are the studies going to end and the community going to be taken seriously? Where will you move the docks?”

Rebecca Priano had a different reaction.

“We hate change in Coeur d’Alene because we live in paradise. How can you change paradise?” chided Priano, assistant manager of the Lake City Playhouse. “Well, it’s time to bite the bullet. … Do it all.”

The council formed a committee Tuesday night to discuss how to proceed. More public hearings will be held before any of the proposed changes are made, council members said.

The council accepted an amendment to “ensure” rather than merely “encourage” that any public facility removed during revitalization be replaced with an equal or better one. For example, council members said, a new site must be found for the Third Street boat launch before it could be removed.

In approving the resolution, presented by the Coeur d’Alene Urban Renewal Agency, the council promised to consider community values in planning.

Those values are: keeping public space accessible to all citizens, promoting and enhancing open space, encouraging greater community use of public space, encouraging vistas and views, creating a community gathering place and linking downtown with the waterfront.

The city has spent two years and thousands of dollars developing a blueprint to revitalize downtown. Walker-Macy was hired in fall 1998 and has spent more than a year conducting public workshops and open houses to create the plan.

“I have never worked with a community with such an exceptional level of participation,” consultant Doug Macy told the group. “It is truly a plan that reflects this community.”