City considers zoning changes

Townhouses, gardens and three-story buildings with condos on top and businesses on the bottom could become the new standard for development in three neighborhoods surrounding downtown Coeur d’Alene.

The city is considering changing its zoning rules in these transition areas to encourage high-density housing such as townhouses and condos that have underground parking and a cohesive look. Some areas, such as Midtown, would also encourage combining businesses and condos in the same building.

The current zoning rules don’t allow for high-density housing in these areas and require too many parking lots to make urban housing possible. It’s an idea that could draw more people toward the downtown core, revitalizing the city.

“If we adopt this it will spark creativity among the contracting, building and design community and really give us a product unique to Coeur d’Alene,” Councilwoman Dixie Reid said during Thursday’s workshop on the potential changes to the development codes and design guidelines.

The council has yet to make a decision on the recommendations offered by a Seattle-based consultant, which range from allowing at least 40 living units per acre to embracing taller buildings and underground parking. The Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission has endorsed the proposal.

Landscaping, including preserving Coeur d’Alene’s large trees, is a major part of many of the suggestions.

“We want lots of vegetation, not just asphalt and rocks,” said Mark Hinshaw, of LMN Architects. “We want lots of growing, living things.”

Midtown, running south of Harrison Avenue to Foster Avenue between Third and Fourth streets, is one area the city is considering for these changes. The new rules would apply to any new construction or major remodels of current buildings.

The neighborhood straddling Garden Avenue is another focus. Hinshaw calls this the Garden District and suggests that the city play up the large, old trees and the street name by encouraging homes to have display gardens out front while landscaping the streets with special plants.

“It would be a village that’s a botanical garden while at the same time emerging as a very strong urban neighborhood,” Hinshaw said.

He noted that one new development on Garden Avenue already has saved all the mature trees, giving it a comfortable feeling.

The third area is called East Village and includes the area east of Eighth Street, between Coeur d’Alene Avenue and Young Avenue. It’s the neighborhood bordering the Sanders Beach area.

The proposed changes would make the development rules very specific, making it easier for contractors to do projects, he said. Some people at the hearing said several developers are anxiously waiting for these new guidelines so they can participate.

So far, the city has seen no opposition to this proposal. Councilman Woody McEvers questioned that, saying there has to be another side.

Hinshaw said because the districts are very defined and the rules would apply to existing buildings, there are few leery people. Usually the only developers who don’t like urban housing rules are those looking to make quick money and have no investment or ties to a city or its future, he said.

The council also discussed the idea of turning Third and Fourth into two-way streets as a way to help jump-start Midtown revitalization in addition to changing the development rules.

Currently the one-way streets are an express between Interstate 90 and downtown, moving traffic quickly past the stores intermixed with homes.

Hinshaw recommends converting them to two-way streets to slow traffic and encourage pedestrians.

Councilman Ron Edinger said he recently polled 19 businesses along Third and Fourth and found that 16 business owners were against changing the streets to two-way because of traffic congestion concerns. He also talked to seven homeowners, with four people favoring the change and three opposing it.

Reid said Edinger failed to put the street changes in perspective and tell about the city’s larger goal of encouraging urban development and Midtown revitalization.

Mayor Sandi Bloem said Midtown business owners and residents need more information before making up their minds. “I’m advocating we be as well-educated as we can be before we make a decision,” Bloem said. “Let the owners hear all the information.”