Parking boots and apartment regulations

COEUR d'ALENE — The Coeur d'Alene City Council is not going quietly into the New Year.

Instead, the council will convene today for its last meeting of 2016 to make a decision on whether to add an ordinance that would put a boot on vehicles of those with multiple unpaid parking tickets, and hear a judicial appeal of a proposed downtown housing development.

Last month, Rita Snyder, of the East Mullan Historic Neighborhood Association, filed an appeal of a decision made by the city's Design Review Commission, which approved the design for a 43-unit apartment building on the site of the current Shady Pines Apartments in downtown Coeur d'Alene. The appeal of the Montana-based CDA Mullan Partners LLC project — called the "Lake Apartments" — focuses on a decision by the commission that currently allows developers some wiggle-room as it relates to the size and spacing of the apartment complex.

"As a group we've been working for our neighborhood association to protect the historical character of it for more than eight years," Snyder told The Press. "We want development, that space certainly needs to be developed, but it needs to be the right development that fits in with our neighborhood."

No new evidence can be presented during the hearing, and there will be no public testimony. Only Snyder, city staff, representatives of CDA Mullan Partners, and the city council may participate in the hearing.

The city council will have 15 days to make a decision on the matter. If it chooses to send the project back to the commission, a public meeting will be held and a report will be given to the city council, which will then reopen the appeal hearing to make a final decision.

Deputy City Administrator Sam Taylor will also present the council with a proposed ordinance that, if approved, would place those with four or more parking tickets more than 45 days old on a "scofflaw list." Individuals who find themselves on the list, which would be published on the city's website, may have a boot placed on their vehicle should they once again violate the city's parking rules.

"The boot would not be removed until they paid their citations," Taylor said.

City council meetings are open to the public, and begin at 6 p.m. in the community room at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave.