Heart of Whitefish supports the downtown plan

The Heart of Whitefish Board would like to address some concerns and clarify some misunderstandings of a few members of the downtown business district regarding the Downtown Infrastructure Improvements including the Central Avenue project.

The improvement project was developed not by "outsiders" but by downtown merchants and interested members of the Whitefish citizenry over a period of more than seven years. Through a highly public process, including six well-attended public workshops held at the O'Shaughnessy Center between November 2004 and October 2005, the current design evolved.

On each occasion, citizens were given the opportunity to voice their opinions and ultimately vote on the range of design options which would become part of the Downtown Master Plan and form the backbone of the Central Avenue Improvement Project, including curb extensions, raised intersections, mid-block crossings, widened sidewalks, ornamental lighting and native landscaping.

This design, virtually identical to the current plan, was supported by 179 workshop participants with only nine participants voting against it.

Yes, some parking along Central Avenue will be lost, but it is misleading to suggest that this loss has not been carefully weighed and offset by parking gains throughout the Master Plan.

The Infrastructure Improvement Project calls for the construction of a 220-space parking structure to be completed before any work is done on Central Avenue. Because of the need to re-stripe for consistent parking space width, provide sight-vision triangles at intersections, and ADA handicap-van accessible spaces, Central Avenue will inevitably lose four parking spaces per block even if no improvements are made.

The only loss of parking dictated by actual plan design is 1 1/2 spaces on each side of the street per block. The trade-off is a widened mid-block area to accommodate the streetlight (designed to suspend our Holiday lighting), trash receptacle, benches, native plantings and a safe street-crossing option.

The result will be to increase and improve the flow of pedestrians in the shopping district, and to encourage shoppers to spend more time (and money) downtown.

The intent of the Central Avenue project is to enhance the pedestrian experience in our downtown, not to create an "outdoor mall-type atmosphere." Contrary to the concerns of a very small but vocal minority, the individuality of our locally owned shops and merchants, and the authenticity of the eclectic mix of storefronts and canopies along Central Avenue will not be compromised by the proposed street and sidewalk improvements.

Downtown Whitefish is a vibrant retail environment, with a cozy intimacy, which artificially themed "lifestyle centers" seek to imitate. We cannot afford to let "authentic" become "shabby" when our customers will have more and more opportunities to seek shopping experiences nearby.

In the past week, Heart of Whitefish board members polled downtown business and building owners and found an overwhelming majority in support of the project. It is disheartening at this late stage in the process to have to re-address concerns which have been carefully considered and thoughtfully mitigated and to have these concerns threaten the progress of this project.

Compromises have already been made to the point that further compromises jeopardize the positive "pedestrian-friendly" outcome that is so crucial to the continued economic livelihood of our downtown core.

It is the opinion of this board, and the vast majority of those citizens and downtown business owners who have participated in the design, that the Central Avenue Improvement Project will reinforce, not negate, the authenticity of our traditional main street and keep downtown a vital retail and community environment moving into the future.

The Heart of Whitefish Board of Directors — Gary Stephens, Ian Collins, Marilyn Nelson, Rhonda Fitzgerald, Chris Schustrom, Dale Reich, Nancy Svennungsen and Cris Coughlin.