Council delays decision on downtown design

Restrictions to Central Avenue offices generate most discussion

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish City Council opted to hold a workshop in September on proposed architectural amendments for the downtown area rather than act on them Monday night.

Restrictions to height and professional offices on Central Avenue generated the most discussion. Councilors also wanted to provide a variance process for special future projects, such as a boutique hotel, and expand the new amendments to side streets, not just Central Avenue.

The city's architectural review standards and its downtown master plan call for no more than 35 feet in height and one or two stories, but that conflicts with the WB-3 zoning regulations that govern all of downtown Whitefish.

WB-3 regulations allow 45-foot high buildings if stepped back 20 feet at the 35-foot level, and the conflict between the two sets of rules has created problems for International Capital Partners, which wants to build its The Offices At Cobblestone project at the former Truby's restaurant site.

The Whitefish City-County Planning Board recommended by a 4-3 vote that buildings along Central Avenue be restricted to 35 feet but be allowed to have up to three floors.

In an Aug. 12 letter to the council, however, the Heart of Whitefish downtown merchants association said allowing three floors without a 20-foot setback "undermines the goal of maintaining the existing scale and mass" of Central Avenue.

If the council wants to allow three-story buildings on Central Avenue, the merchants said, then it would be better to keep the 45-foot height limit with the 20-foot setback but restrict buildings to three floors.

Several councilors agreed that existing professional offices should be provided with a special "grandfathering" status. As proposed, they could retain their status as professional offices unless converted to retail use or if left vacant for 180 days.

That's not enough time for an owner to sell a building, councilor Shirley Jacobson said.

Councilor John Muhlfeld agreed, citing the loss of a gambling license at the former Flanagan's Central Station because it didn't sell soon enough.

Planning consultant Eric Mulcahy, representing the Hedman, Hileman & Lacosta law firm, suggested that the time period be lengthened to a year and a half.

IN OTHER council news:

? Sharply rising construction costs and tougher bonding requirements pose serious problems for two important tax-increment financing (TIF) projects — a new emergency services center and downtown parking.

"A lot has changed this past week that has dampened my enthusiasm," mayor Mike Jenson said.

The cost of concrete and steel — primary components for a parking structure — have increased by 18 percent in the first quarter of this year, said Ryan Mitchell, a consulting engineer with Robert Peccia & Associates.

Jenson said bonding requirements for TIF funds have increased from 105 percent to 135 percent. City finance director Mike Eve should spend an hour with Heart of Whitefish merchants to explain the difficulties, he suggested.

The merchants association proposed funding one-third of a downtown parking garage at Second Street and Spokane Avenue with a downtown business-improvement district (BID) so long as a public bond was used to finance one-third of the emergency services center, Jenson said.

"But that was before we learned about the rest of this," Jenson said.

Interim city manager Dennis Taylor said there's probably only enough TIF money to do the emergency services center and a surface parking lot at Second and Spokane.

Jenson said the city needs that parking lot because reconstruction of Central Avenue starting next year will reduce parking spaces one block at a time.

The council agree to take up the downtown parking issue at its Sept. 15 meeting.

? The council voted 5-1 to increase cash-in-lieu payments for the city's voluntary affordable housing fees from $6,000 to $11,000. The recommendation came from Whitefish Housing Authority director SueAnn Grogan. Councilor Turner Askew cast the lone dissenting vote.

Since 2005, developers have been able to gain unit density and open-space reductions in exchange for providing to the housing authority either 10 percent of a project's units or a payment-in-lieu.

The original $3,000 per unit was doubled to $6,000 per unit shortly after the voluntary program began. The program is currently pledged two units and $1.6 million.

Based on an average subsidy of $117,000 per home for participants in the city's affordable housing program, however, $6,000 is not enough, Grogan told the council.

? The council approved a loan from the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to be used to pay for upgrades at the city's wastewater treatment plant.

The $3 million project includes constructing a new building for a rotary screen and a bypass basin, constructing a new clarifier and installing new pipes and related improvements.

About $850,000 will come from grants, and $687,000 will come from plant-investment fees collected from city customers.

The rest will come from a $2.2 million loans from DNRC amortized over 20 years at 3.75 percent interest paid out of city sewer fees.