Safeway remodel approved by council

By RICHARD HANNERS

Whitefish Pilot

About 50 people concerned about Safeway's proposal for remodeling their Whitefish store showed up for the Whitefish City Council meeting on Monday. When deputy mayor Cris Coughlin asked for a show of hands, they all supported Safeway.

But there was more. Store manager Randy Bebee presented a petition with more than 1,500 signatures in support of Safeway's proposal.

The city council found themselves facing a storm a protest after a split 3-3 vote on June 4 left the project in limbo. Since then, several changes had taken place — Montana Department of Transportation approved Safeway's traffic-impact study, and Safeway had reached an agreement with the city's Architectural Review Committee on design changes.

The Safeway company wants to expand their Whitefish store from 43,221 square feet, including the former Ben Franklin store, to 52,578 square feet, about the same size as Super 1 Foods.

Because the design exceeds 15,000 square feet, Safeway's plan falls within the city's new regulations for box stores and is subject to conditions, making the store a "guinea pig" for the new ordinance, noted Safeway representative Jeff Parker.

Several conditions proved to be contentious — allowing Safeway to relocate its loading dock to the north side, which would allow the store to remain open during remodeling, improving pedestrian connections with a raised sidewalk across the parking lot, and whether the city council or the city's Architectural Review Committee had final say on the store's design.

Seven ARC members met with Safeway representatives on June 5, the day after the council's tie vote. The committee unanimously approved Safeway's plan to move the loading dock to the north side and then turned to design and aesthetics.

Parker asked the committee to take into account the big box stores in Kalispell and noted that Safeway had gone "well beyond" the scope of normal procedure out of respect for Whitefish.

In particular, Parker said dropping ceilings to break up the roof line, similar to what was done with The Wave, was not feasible. If the roof lines had to be redrawn, then Safeway might have to reconsider its $12 million project.

Bruce Lutz, Safeway's landscape architect, suggested that a "line in the sand" was being crossed and shouldn't be. Safeway knows best how to build a functional store, and ARC members should not design the building for them, he said.

ARC member Virgil Weitzel said Safeway was putting everything possible in square footage, but the company was well aware the new ordinance intended box stores to be broken up.

ARC chairman Chad Grover told the council on Monday that they met with Safeway's people that afternoon to look at the latest designs for the Baker Avenue wall. The committee voted 6-1 in favor of the company's designs.

At Monday's meeting, Coughlin expressed concern about the intersection of Baker Avenue and 13th Street. The latter could one day run all the way out to Karrow Avenue as a major east-west road, she said. But her motion to make Safeway bear part of the cost of a traffic signal and additional right-of-way failed.

Parker asked for fair treatment by the councilors, saying box store regulations changed after Safeway submitted its application. He also said he respectfully disagreed with planning staff's contention that the large store did not fit in with neighborhood character.

Councilors amended and added several conditions, including one requiring Safeway abide by recommendations made by MDT, the traffic impact study and the city public works department, before voting unanimously in favor of the project.

Safeway's project is the first to fall under the new box-store regulations — but more proposals can be expected.

In a letter to the city council, former city planning director Bob Horne, writing as a private citizen, used "floor area ratio" figures to suggest Safeway's building is "over-built" for the site. But there was little the council could do if the conditional-use criteria were met, he said.

"So that we minimize the risk of over development in the future, I respectfully suggest we fix our regulatory system — soon," he said.