Green project gets the nod - with toy train

Developer: 'What's wrong with a little fun?'

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

A green development on Denver Street between Wisconsin and Colorado avenues won approval from the Whitefish City Council on June 16 after a sometimes-confused debate about noise abatement.

The Rail Town Gardens planned-unit development (PUD) calls for mixed-use development on 3.66 acres, with two restaurants, a brewery and ice creamery building, a retail-office building and 16 residential units.

Although it isn't required, the developer, Dan Weinberg, will sell at least two of the residential units to the Whitefish Housing Authority, which hopes to acquire more of the units for its affordable housing program. All units acquired by WHA will remain permanently affordable under its community land trust program.

Weinberg said Rail Town Gardens is "all about community" and "getting people together." But his plans also call for a toy train that will wind its way through the project, and neighbors have raised concerns about noise caused by the toy train.

"What's wrong with a little fun?" Weinberg asked the councilors. "The only sounds neighbors will hear will be the sounds of laughter."

Scott Elden, of Elden Creative in Whitefish and a former member of the city's Architectural Review Committee, headed up the project's design. He said Rail Town Gardens is more than about sustainable and energy-saving ideas. It's a new way of looking at how to build neighborhoods.

"It's getting a lot of attention around the state," he said.

Elden said he expected the project to increase commerce and activity in the area as a result of the millions invested in the project, but he also said the project is not intended to be an event location.

Mayor Mike Jenson had asked about setting a closing time for outdoor events, but Elden resisted that idea, saying it could set a bad precedent.

Neighbors got a taste of what events at the site could be like on May 29 when local Democrats held a pig roast and rally at the site. Weinberg is a state senator, and one of the buildings there is now a Democratic headquarters.

Several hundred people attended the outdoor rally, and a live rock band performed. Cars were parked on both sides of Denver Street all the way past Colorado Avenue, where a new subdivision is under development. Some cars were seen parked on Colorado, which is not allowed.

Weinberg has requested three zoning deviations for his project, including reducing required parking by 31 spaces, or 24 percent. The idea is that people will come to Rail Town Gardens by bike or bus, not car.

Sheila Bowen, executive director for the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, relayed Chamber members' concerns about noise. She cited a litany of noise-related issues that the council has heard over the past few years — railroad whistles, traffic, bands at block parties and construction on Central Avenue.

Bowen said Chamber members wanted the council to take a close look at metal-on-metal noise made by the toy train's steel wheels riding on segmented steel track, and the impact of that noise on neighbors.

One neighbor, who lives in the duplexes south of the project, asked the council to impose closing hours for outdoor events and a limit on alcohol and to require a noise mitigation plan drafted by a third-party professional "so it's not guesswork."

Betsy and Woody Cox, owners of Good Medicine Lodge south of the proposed development, have expressed concerns about noise. Betsy noted that Elden, in his thumbnail history of the project, said "the train came first." Green ideas should have come first, she said, if the project is to be taken seriously.

Betsy Cox asked the council to look at the "residential reality of the neighborhood," adding that some guests have already said they won't return to the lodge if activities next-door run to 9:30 p.m.

Discussion got sidetracked for about an hour as the council tried to address noise concerns. Councilor Nick Palmer, who had raised noise issues during a planning priorities workshop prior to the council meeting, said he wanted the project to adhere to the same 55-decibel standard used at a project on Wisconsin Avenue.

But the council has never imposed a 55-decibel standard there or anywhere else in the city. Neighbors last year complained about noise from large air-conditioning units at The Lodge At Whitefish Lake, but the city's current noise ordinance doesn't address that kind of problem.

As the council struggled with a way to draft a noise standard on-the-fly, Jenson asked Weinberg if he would be OK with the council approving the project under the condition that a noise standard would be drafted at a later time.

After conferring with Elden, Weinberg returned to the podium.

"People are having a tough time imagining something that hasn't been done before," he said. "From where I stand, you don't know how to take it."

He said he didn't think he could go through with the development if something "integral" to the project — the toy train — couldn't be part of it.

"If you hear the sounds of laughter and enjoyment, not only can I not do something about it, I don't want to," Weinberg said.

Woody Cox also returned to the podium to rebut Weinberg's comment that when he spoke with the lodge owners half a year ago, they were OK with allowing outdoor activities until 10 p.m. Cox said he learned about potential noise from G16 toy trains after he spoke with Weinberg.

The council voted 3-2 to limit operation of the toy train from noon to 9:30 p.m. Palmer, who wanted it shut down at 8 p.m., and councilor Turner Askew were in opposition.

The overall project was unanimously approved with the condition that a noise mitigation plan be created by city staff.