To the Editor,

In response to the Mayor Miller's response (Bee 1/16) to NICAN's 1/11 Guest Opinion on the increased cost and negative economic impacts of the Sand Creek bypass:

The Mayor's statement that 'nobody can build on the Sand Creek waterfront anyway' was disingenuous at best. While it's likely true that condos could not be built on the narrow strip of shoreline west of the RR on the east bank of Sand Creek, there is potential for developing that waterfront area into a park. The east bank of Sand Creek provides a waterfront greenbelt that enhances property on the opposite shore. It is a popular area for canoeing and kayaking on the creek. Replacing the big cottonwoods along the shoreline with massive concrete walls ("vegetated" or not) and noisy traffic 24/7 will destroy this ambience.

The Lakeside is currently providing tax revenue for the city along with desirable waterfront lodging close to downtown. How much revenue will the city lose when the Lakeside Motel is gone?

Also conveniently ignored were the development opportunities which could significantly increase property values on the west bank of Sand Creek. This potential will be lost if the 3 lane elevated highway up Sand Creek is built. The traffic noise and mammoth concrete walls on the opposite shore, a mere 150 feet away, will significantly reduce its present and potential value.

We are all aware that the city has voted its support of the byway "a multitude of times." NICAN's members and many others in the community wonder - WHY!?

Why are numerous other towns and cities recognizing that waterfront property is the heart of the community and its greatest asset, while Sandpoint's city government seems determined to destroy thousands of feet with massive walls and fills in the creek - based on the promise that it will be "landscaped?" Other communities are removing concrete barriers and industrial developments on their waterfront and realizing tens of millions of dollars in value increase with the removal of these eyesores.

The "byway" will be just such an eyesore. One of the perks offered by ITD is the bike/ walking path along the shoreline; who will want to bike or stroll next to massive concrete walls with noisy truck traffic lumbering by?

Furthermore, other parts of the peninsula also have potential for a wide range of development that will be forever lost if this highway in the creek bypass is built. We need to look at what the Mayor and ITD do NOT say that reveals so much. Does it make economic sense to cover thousands of feet of potential waterfront parks (including the Lakeside property) with welded wire walls and concrete?

Sandpoint gets grants to build boardwalks along the creek that will have a close-up view of the total destruction of the east bank of the Creek and then a massive wall and fill in the creek. This is progress? This is what our vision of a future? This will be our legacy for our children? that will cut off owners from putting docks or other shoreline developments and ITD's response to NICAN's statements that the project is behind schedule is and huge amounts of tax dollars are being spent without first establishing whether it is doable (from legal and environmental perspectives) amounted to the usual bureaucratic face-saving statements that ITD has been issuing all along, instead of the facts.

Liz Sedler, Executive Director

North Idaho Community Action Network