Edinger supports public vote on McEuen Field

COEUR d'ALENE - City Council President Ron Edinger said he could support the idea of allowing the public to vote on the future of McEuen Field.

Whether the 40-plus year city official would pursue any sort of voting option in his capacity as council president was still too far out to say, he said Friday.

"Maybe down the road I might make a motion to make a public vote," he said. "We'll have to wait and see."

But on Thursday during the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans meeting, Edinger told the group there that he supported some type of public vote on the fate of the downtown park's potential redesign, and reiterated his stance on Friday.

"I said, 'I don't see any reason why the public shouldn't vote'," Edinger told The Press. "This is taxpayer money. It probably should go to a vote of the people and let the people have their say."

Since Team McEuen, - the landscape and architectural team that crafted McEuen Field's state-of-the-art conceptual design - shared its vision with the pubic in a December 2010 Press article and public informational meeting Jan. 6, Edinger said he has received a wide range of feedback from the public on the plan.

Concerns about removing the Third Street boat launch, altering parts of Tubbs Hill, removing the American Legion baseball field and how the city would fund such a large-scale project and its maintenance are topics that are drawing the most polarizing opinions, Edinger said.

Allowing the public to vote may be the best way to settle those debates, he said.

"I'm not opposed to improvements," he said. "But this project, talking about McEuen, is probably one of the bigger projects Coeur d'Alene has ever had."

How or what type of vote he would prefer see happen - should one be proposed - Edinger couldn't say.

It could be an advisory vote or an official one. An advisory vote doesn't carry legal weight; rather it is more like an opinion poll for the City Council to consider before it makes a final decision. Edinger said he could even support the idea of putting each of the park's 24 itemized amenities up to vote. That could get an up or down answer on each proposal one way or the other, he said.

The McEuen Field conceptual design is still in the public planning process, with meetings scheduled for Thursday and Feb. 10, and hasn't been discussed at the City Council level yet.

Edinger is the only council member to publicly support the idea of a vote.

Other council members said Friday the planning process, including written comments and surveys, is incorporating the public's input. The final vote on the design, once it's finished, should be up to the council - as all public park developments are.

"I don??t see this as any different than any other thing to come before the council in any other fashion," said Councilwoman Deanna Goodlander. "We're elected to make those decisions, we built a park at Landings, we didn't take a vote on that ... I think we're getting the information (from public input) we need to make a decision."

Mayor Sandi Bloem couldn't be reached for comment on Friday, but said in previous interviews with The Press and at meetings discussing McEuen that she favors allowing the City Council to have the final decision on whatever conceptual plan is put before it for adoption.

On Friday council members Al Hassell and John Bruning agreed.

"That's our job," Bruning said of widely-debated topics landing at the council's desk. "That's what we're supposed to do."

Hassell said talking about a public vote at this stage was premature. It would also cost thousands to circulate the ballot, he said.

"If we put it up for a vote we would have to piecemeal everything," he said. "We have no plan, we have no funding ... We haven't even gone anywhere with it yet."

Councilman Woody McEvers agreed the plan was a long way from being completed, but should the topic of a public vote arise, it could be prudent for the City Council to consider.

"I would certainly consider it," McEvers said. "It doesn't seem out of the question."

Thursday's KCRR meeting featured guest speaker and political watchdog Mary Souza, who discussed the public voting possibility regarding the proposal. Since a yet-to-be-determined portion of the project would likely be funded by Lake City Development Corp., the city's urban renewal agency, Souza said the public should be allowed to vote because that is property tax money.

LCDC allocates property tax monies for public and private developments within their districts. Souza said that, according to Idaho Statute, if the city proposed such an expenditure reliant on collected taxes without an urban renewal district, a vote would be necessary, as it would go beyond "ordinary and necessary" city spending.

But the city formed LCDC with the intention of using it to one day develop McEuen Field. The agency is prepared to help fund it, and the process to get it this far has been 12 years in the making, city officials have said.

"I was pleased and surprised that he came to the meeting," Souza said of Edinger. "If everyone votes on it, I'm fine with the decision, so long as it's a public vote."

Edinger, who has often disagreed with Souza on city government topics, was asked at the meeting whether he supported a vote.

He said he did, likening it to the near advisory vote that took place in 2004 regarding the botanical garden proposal by Coeur d'Alene Resort owner Duane Hagadone. That proposal, which would have required a portion of Sherman to be closed and rerouted, never made it that far after Hagadone pulled the idea.

"McEuen Field is public land," Edinger said. "The people should have a say."

Edinger is also a member of the Tubbs Hill foundation, which opposed any plan to alter Tubbs Hill earlier this month. He said he volunteered to be a part of the 21-person steering committee, the group of stakeholders who helped Team McEuen as it was designing the plan, but wasn't appointed.

He said he respected all the members of the steering committee and its insight, but was "disappointed" he wasn't included.

Edinger is up for re-election this year, but said he hasn't decided whether he will run again.

"Nothing was done for any political feeling whatsoever," Edinger said of his stance. "It's how I feel, it's what I believe, and that's what it is."

Councilman Mike Kennedy was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment.