Last Coeur d'Alene City Council Meeting of 2023

In the last CDA City council meeting of the year, the council went through multiple housekeeping presentations before finishing out the 2023 calendar year. The presentations were the highlight of the meeting so the main points of each are below.

Citylink Presentation

Citylink presented on the current transit services and how they compare to demand as well as the projected demands for the estimated population in 2040.

What makes cities transit-friendly? Transit-oriented development (TOD) is defined as the blend of physical and social elements that contributes to higher ridership. It’s a walkable, mixed-use, higher density area that caters to people who would rather give up their vehicles and ride public transit instead of driving.

Citylink uses those TOD elements as metrics to see how they are currently doing with the existing local transit system – was it reaching the strongest transit markets in the county? – and, as resources allow in the future, to where might Citylink be extended?

Current population density shows that a majority of the county lives within a quarter mile of where the Citylink transit drives, with the exception of the CDA Landings which they consider an outlier of a large population of families with school-age children that might be a temporary “blip” in the system and might come down a bit as those families age.

According to the KMPO, not too many surprises in the changes of the 2040 population density projections except the prairie being built out.

Mixed Use

Mixed use is the next big development zone that cities are moving towards and transit wants to meet those diverse needs.

“If people are going to live transit lifestyles, they need to be able to meet their needs within walking distance of home or work.“

Other transit markets that are used for metrics include low-income housing...

...and low vehicle ownership – households that have 0 or 1 vehicles.

When all metrics are put together in a composite transit orientation score.

Citylink feels that the current transit system does a good job of reaching strong transit markets.

In the 2040 composite metrics everything just intensifies a bit and the prairie starts to develop.

One area that is not transit-oriented yet is the Atlas Waterfront but should be in the future as the density increases.

Ultimately Citylink is trying to move more people into less areas to reduce traffic and emissions and get them to the necessities they need.

CDA Police Building Expansion

Last year the CDA City Council approved a $4.25M ARPA investment in expanding the CDA Police building to accommodate CDAPD growth. Expansion will include turning the current locker rooms into office space, building new locker rooms, a new training center, and more office space.

Phase I - $6.2M

Redesign current locker room into office space and build new locker room facility.

Funding: $4.25 allocated ARPA funds, $470k in impact fees, and the $1.3M left over from last year’s CDAPD budget. Phase I should be covered and will be going out to bid in a few weeks.

Phase II – Rough estimate from the contractor and architect comes in $13M in today’s dollar value. Chief White says that Phase II is years and years away, and the cost will increase roughly 8% each year.

Build a new training center, more office space, and more parking.

Funding: Chief is hoping a general obligation bond or more impact fees will cover the cost.

23/24 Snow Plan

Although this is an annual housekeeping presentation, it is a good reminder to the public about the priorities and routes of the city’s snowplows.

Red = CDA Arterials

Yellow = Collectors

Green = Residential

The Street Department’s plowing goal is to have the entire city plowed within 40 hours.

On-street parking makes it difficult for the plows which makes it dangerous for vehicles that are buried by the snow berms as well as the drivers trying to drive down the street.

There is a snow plowing map updated during storms when plowing is necessary.

https://maps.cdaid.org/snowplow/

CDBG Public Hearing for the 2022 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER)

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) is a program of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development funding local community development activities to benefit low to moderate-income residents and neighborhoods. Coeur d’Alene was first recognized as an urban center in Kootenai County in 2007 and has been eligible for CDBG funds ever since.

Because Coeur d’Alene receives an annual direct allocation of CDBG funds, the City is required to complete a CAPER which provides an overview of past year project outcomes and spending priorities. The 2022 CAPER highlights accomplishments that took place July 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023, including funds from Plan Years (PY) 2020 and 2021. The 2022 Plan Year was extended to September 30, rather than it’s prior June 30 end date due to the change in our Plan Year start date to October 1 for PY 23.

The goals from the 5-Year Consolidated Plan are considered when determining which projects are completed under CDBG funding.