City Beach Is Changing on Three Clocks at Once This Winter
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
Sandpoint's City Beach is about to change on three separate schedules. Two of them were set by the City Council within three weeks of each other, in September and October. The third belongs to a private owner whose plans haven't reached a public hearing. The decisions behind all three share a pattern: on the public side, the changes follow the funding. Grant committees and the money they control explain why the RV park is being built without a bathhouse, and why the parking lot redesign is built around boat trailers instead of beachgoers.
City Beach covers 22 acres at the end of Bridge Street. Northern Pacific Railroad donated the land to the city in 1922, and the city calls it the busiest park in its system. That's a lot of everyday use for a park that will be part construction site and part planning exercise through the coming winter.
The first clock started on September 16. The council voted 4–2 to begin a scaled-back renovation of the City Beach RV Park this winter, and the Bonner County Daily Bee reported that the restroom and shower facility will wait until later.
The project started bigger. Last February the council accepted a $950,000 state grant for the renovation, and public input added a fire pit area, tent camping sites and furnishings at every RV site. Once every requested amenity was priced, the project ran roughly $1 million over the construction budget, according to Community Planning and Development Director Jason Welker.
Project engineer Dan Tatock then drew up cheaper alternatives, and the council chose between two:
| "Essential RV park" | "Signature RV park" | |
|---|---|---|
| Approximate construction budget used | About $270,000 | About $660,000 |
| Restroom and shower building | Deferred; site prepared for one later | Included |
| Patio, fire pit, paved RV sites | Cut | Not reported |
| Construction start | This winter | Delayed one year |
The essential version pays for the infrastructure an RV park needs: utilities, site circulation, operational improvements and basic landscaping. Welker summed up the cuts by saying it "just kind of reduces some of the 'nice to haves' from the RV park."
The reasoning behind the vote matters for the rest of the beach. Welker told the council that, based on his conversations with state grant administrators, the city is more likely to win another round of funding by choosing the essential option, because the grant committee "likes to see a project that's already underway." So the showers aren't cancelled. They depend on a future grant application, and the city judged that breaking ground this winter is the best case it can make for that application. The motion that passed included applying for grants next year to build the restroom and shower facility.
Welker said the renovated park could be ready next summer, which means summer 2027. The Daily Bee report gave no exact closure or reopening dates.
The second clock started on October 7. At that meeting the council voted 3–2 to move ahead with "Concept D" for the City Beach parking lot. The Sandpoint Reader reported that the plan aims to improve safety and access for boat trailers and changes how traffic moves through the lot, including a roundabout "gateway" at the north entrance.
The biggest change is trailer capacity. Project Manager Erik Bush told the council the lot has 10 boat trailer stalls today. Concept D raises that to 30: 20 dedicated pull-through spots and 10 mixed-use spaces open to both trailers and passenger vehicles. To make room, parking extends east into what is now the interior of the park's green space. The turnaround near the beach pavilion goes away in favor of wider areas for trailers to enter and leave, and trees and other landscaping are added across the main lot.
The funding source explains why the design leans so heavily toward trailers. The city hopes to pay for part of the reconstruction with the Waterways Improvement Fund. Welker explained the fund to the council this way, as the Reader reported:
"The Waterways Improvement Fund is funded using boat registrations, so that committee that reviews those grant applications is really looking for improvements that enhance access to the boat launch."
He also said the committee needed "a more refined concept" before it would approve funding for a City Beach parking lot, "particularly one that emphasizes improvements for boat trailer access." He added that the grant "is not going to pay for the entire City Beach project," and that the hope is to fund a significant share of the trailer improvements through it.
The parking lot is following the same logic as the RV park. In September, the city picked the version of the RV park that could start soonest because grant committees reward momentum. In October, it advanced the version of the parking lot that best fits a fund built from boat registration fees. Each choice is a reasonable answer to the question of what can actually be paid for. Together, they set the near-term shape of the busiest park in town.
The concept is at 35% design. An engineer's cost estimate is due in December, ahead of grant deadlines in January, and Welker said he was on the agenda to present to the funding committee when it meets. The October vote set a direction. The plan isn't final.
The third clock is the one no council vote can set. The former Best Western Edgewater Resort at 56 Bridge Street, next to City Beach, closed along with its attached restaurant space in September 2025. Its owner, Whitefish, Montana-based Averill Hospitality, had planned to demolish it and build a resort hotel of almost 300,000 square feet. The sign beside the property now reads "The Point coming soon."
The application on file with the city is smaller. Under case number PCUP26-0004, the project would renovate the existing hotel of about 52 rooms and add a five-story south wing with 27 hospitality condominium units in the hotel rental program, for 79 rooms and suites in total. The planned amenities include a new restaurant, a lobby bar, a coffee venue, retail space, outdoor dining, pool and spa facilities, and an event lawn and terrace. Access would continue from Bridge Street and Dock Street, using the existing surface parking.
The filed plan is one of three options the company has described. At an August 18 Planning and Zoning meeting, Averill representative Ben McGrann said the company would ideally build the original design. He described the reduced project as a second option, and a third as "a little light interior refresh, clean up the rooms, the lobby, put some new paint on the building and open it back up." According to the Sandpoint Reader, the refresh route could start as early as December, with an opening anticipated in summer 2027.
The Reader reported in August that city staff had sent comments on the new application. The October 6 Planning and Zoning agenda had no public hearing for it. As of this writing, it remains an open question which version of the waterfront hotel will be built.
These three schedules could meet around the same date. The city is aiming for a renovated RV park in summer 2027. That's also the earliest reopening Averill has described for the light-refresh option. The parking lot's timing depends on what the January grant round produces. If all three come through, the north end of City Beach would look very different from today within two summers. If the grants or the hotel plans slip, parts of it will stay as they are for longer.
The renovations are a two-summer story. Until then, City Beach keeps working as a winter park under the city's posted rules:
The RV park and parking lot work will happen at the northern and interior edges of the park during the months it's set up for dog walks and sledding. The beach and the pathways stay part of daily use while the funding decisions play out around them.
From the reporting so far, these are the milestones that will show which version of City Beach arrives first:
Public hearing notices for PCUP26-0004 will appear on Sandpoint Planning and Zoning agendas once the application is ready to move forward.
At Gove & Co, we follow City Beach's plans the way we follow anything that shapes the blocks around Bridge Street and Dock Street. If you own property near the waterfront and want to know how these projects could affect your home, we're glad to talk it through. Request a Private Market Review.
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