Costco's footprint may grow
Costco Wholesale is seeking to add 335 parking spaces at the adjacent site of the old Black Sheep Sporting Good property and parking lot.
BILL BULEY/Press
Costco Wholesale is seeking to add 335 parking spaces at the adjacent site of the old Black Sheep Sporting Good property and parking lot.
COEUR d’ALENE — Parking at Costco Wholesale can be a challenge.
It can mean circling the usually crowded lot or waiting if you want a spot close to the front door, or a longer walk from a far away space.
The popular retailer is looking to make that task a little easier for customers by adding more than 300 parking spaces for its Neider Avenue store.
It is proposing to tear down the former home of Black Sheep Sporting Goods, remove the 203 parking stalls that go with it, and replace them with a 335-stall parking lot and landscaping.
The plan will go before the city’s Planning Commission when it meets at 5:30 tonight in the Library Community Room.
Costco bought the property from Black Sheep in December 2020. Black Sheep relocated to the Silver Lake Mall last year when the mall was purchased by the Knoll family, which also owns Black Sheep.
When asked if a parking lot expansion meant a store expansion, a Costco manager in Coeur d’Alene said “no comment” on Monday.
On initial review, the project meets the minimum distance and tree planting requirements and exceeds the minimum distance requirement between stalls and landscaping described in the Environmental Landscape Code.
The site just off Government Way is about four and a half acres. It requires 29 parking lot trees, and a minimum distance of 60 feet from a parking stall to the nearest landscape area.
Based on the 335-stall parking count, the project is required to provide 8,577 square feet, 12.7 percent coverage, of landscaping.
It includes 10,693 square feet, which is 15.8 percent coverage, of landscaping, and all parking stalls are within 50 feet of the required landscaping.
Senior Planner Sean Anderson wrote that the project landscape includes 61 new parking lot trees, consisting of three different deciduous species, in addition to a mix of shrubs, perennial flowering plants and groundcover.
Costco has enjoyed strong sales.
According to Statista, Costco generated sales of about $192.1 billion in sales in 2021 and operated more than 800 warehouses.
The Coeur d’Alene Costco opened in 2004 at 137,000 square feet. It was later expanded to about 150,000 square feet.
