Midtown Meeting Center expansion postponed

COEUR d’ALENE — A planned expansion to the Coeur d’Alene School District’s Midtown Meeting Center is on hold.

After approving a $383,000 bid in September to extend the rear of the building by 35 feet, trustees agreed during a special meeting to postpone the project.

Director of Operations Jeff Voeller said Friday that the reason for the reversal was twofold.

The project was meant to be funded by the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, a federal program administered by the Department of Education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But finance director Shannon Johnston told trustees this week that a review of budgeted and actual ESSER expenditures from fiscal year 2023 revealed that fewer funds were available for the project than previously believed.

Trustees voted unanimously Oct. 23 to cancel the previously approved contract for the expansion.

“The board is trying to prioritize making sure we take care of schools first and foremost and have kids at the center of what we do,” Voeller said.

The remaining funds will be used for deferred maintenance projects instead of the expansion, he said.

During the permitting process, Voeller said the city of Coeur d’Alene determined that the front entrance of the Midtown Meeting Center is no longer recognized as the front for a commercial building in a C-17 zone and the current building structures do not meet the required setbacks from the street. Voeller said that information also contributed to the project’s deferral.

He said the project is likely to come before the board again in the future.

“It’s still a priority,” Voeller said. “We still want to do it, just not right now.”

The planned expansion would have doubled the open floor space where trustees and members of the public gather for meetings. Voeller said the existing space has proved too small for the community’s needs.

“We’ve had board meetings where there hasn’t been space to fit the public who want to participate,” he said.