Outsiders enjoy different aspects of Sandpoint.

Some cherish warm summer evenings listening to memorable performances by top-notch musicians at the annual Festival at Sandpoint on the lip of Lake Pend Oreille. Others enjoy browsing in the small shops of the quaint downtown, including Coldwater Creek’s on the old bridge over Sand Creek, pausing to eat or drink at one of the acclaimed restaurants while busy traffic zigzags its way past. Still others enjoy sunbathing at the city beach, stopping with friends at busy taverns after a day of skiing at Schweitzer Mountain, or absorbing the small-town ambience that many Sandpoint residents are trying to hang on to.

Some Sandpointers have devoted their lives to preserving the lakeshore and Norman Rockwell downtown. Who can blame them? In the words of those old promotional ads, Sandpoint is what America was – a postcard-perfect small town where neighbors drop by, serve on school committees together, and share an appreciation for what they have in their community. Unfortunately, sometimes the residents are forced by progress to fight one another, as was the case when the Idaho Transportation Department proposed to build a bypass along Sand Creek, between the historic downtown and the waterfront.

Now, with a proposal to raise the height restrictions for buildings from 45 to 60 feet, Sandpoint progressives and traditionalists are pitted against each other again. In this instance, the progressives – Realtors, architects and the business community – support lifting the height limit to enable Panhandle State Bank to add jobs locally by using an entire block to construct a four-story headquarters for its expanding system. The traditionalists see the bank’s request as a threat to the historic downtown and contend the bank can do its business in three stories. The business community has the stronger argument.

Sandpoint should do what it can to attract and keep businesses that are willing to provide new jobs and to invest in the community. Panhandle State Bank is that kind of company. It wants to construct a $40 million building at a downtown location that will include a four-story atrium, a community meeting room and underground parking. In an advisory vote on the height issue, the bank received narrow support for its preferred spot in the area of the old Harold’s IGA.

On the other hand, traditionalists are right to worry that removal of the current height restrictions could open the historic downtown, the waterfront and other sensitive areas to unwanted high-rise development. The council should be careful to spell out which areas are protected, if it votes to increase the height limit.

In Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, where taller buildings near the waterfront aren’t unusual, quibbling over “high-rises” of four or five stories might seem quaint. Then, so is Sandpoint. There’s nothing wrong with quaintness as long as it doesn’t stifle good economic opportunities.