Building heights on Central changed again

City council persuaded by downtown merchants

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

As Yogi Berra put it, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

Two weeks after it restricted buildings fronting Central Avenue between Railway and Third streets to two stories under 35 feet, the Whitefish City Council voted unanimously on Monday to allow up to three floors, with a 20-foot setback at the third floor, and a maximum height of 45 feet.

Councilors Nick Palmer said he had a change of heart, John Muhlfeld said he "might have been remiss" with his earlier vote, Nancy Woodruff said she had no clear idea what the community wants.

"That's what public hearings are for," mayor Mike Jenson said.

Councilor Shirley Jacobson, who had wanted even stricter height standards, asked why members of the Heart of Whitefish downtown merchants association waited until Monday to explain the financial hardships height restrictions would create on them.

"That's an issue for sure later, so it won't happen again," she said.

Heart of Whitefish members told the council that losing the ability to add a third floor affects their property's appraisal value, which in turn affects their ability to borrow from banks for improvements. They also said the height restriction would raise the cost of leasing retail and office space.

Nine people addressed the council on Monday, all calling for the city to change the height restriction it had approved Oct. 6. Seven were downtown property owners or businessmen and one was developer Tom Donahue, who wants to build a new office building at the site of the former Truby's restaurant.

Donahue's The Offices At Cobblestone project has run into a number of obstacles, but Whitefish's Architectural Review Committee approved a new design for the project on Oct. 7 with three stories under 35 feet.

ARC's decision came one day after the city council approved several key amendments to the Downtown Master Plan " including limiting buildings on Central Avenue to two stories under 35 feet.

This was the third design for Donahue's company, International Capital Partners. ICP's first proposal for the three-lot site was called Lofts At Cobblestone and was designed by Whitefish architect Chad Grover, who was ARC chairman at the time.

ARC turned down that design in July 2007 saying the lodge-style design "would be well placed in a neighborhood like Iron Horse or at the gateway to Big Mountain, but was out of place and overwhelming" for downtown.

ICP's second proposal came from Heller Manus Architects of San Francisco. The building topped out at 45 feet with four stories and an elevator shaft reaching 53 feet. The building's front on Central Avenue included a predominantly glass center-section reaching three stories.

Before ARC ruled on the second design, Portland-based planning consultants Crandall Arambula, the people the city hired to draft its Downtown Master Plan, sent a letter to the Heart of Whitefish downtown merchants organization recommending that "under no conditions will a fourth floor be allowed" downtown.

"Whitefish's downtown is unique and fragile," George Crandall and Don Arambula said. "It cannot be duplicated; however, it can be destroyed by new development that is out of scale with existing buildings."

ARC unanimously turned down ICP's four-story design in October 2007. Whitefish architect John Constenius, who took over as ARC chairman after Grover died, said the committee generally approved of the Central Avenue facade but members were concerned about massing and size in relation to the building's neighbors.

The committee's ruling created confusion for the city. Four-story buildings with specific setbacks were allowed under the WB-3 zoning regulations governing downtown Whitefish, but the city's architectural standards said buildings along Central Avenue should be limited to one or two stories.

The Heart of Whitefish then weighed in with a new recommendation " allowing buildings up to 45 feet high but imposing a three-story limit. The extra height was needed for architectural design elements to make each building distinct, supporters said.

After several public hearings and workshops, the city council on Oct. 6 approved amendments to the Downtown Master Plan that included limiting buildings fronting Central Avenue between Railway and Third streets to two stories under 35 feet. Buildings elsewhere in the WB-3 zone could be built to 45 feet with a 20-foot setback from the front at 35 feet, as the zoning regulations previously stated.

The council included a provision for the second reading of the new downtown amendments that would have delayed the effective date for the height standard on Central Avenue until Jan. 20, 2009, which would have allowed Donahue enough time to get his building permit approved for three stories. The council's decision Monday will eliminate that situation.

ICP's latest design comes from Kibo Group Architecture, of Whitefish. It calls for a three-story building reaching 35 feet with an elevator shaft topping out at 42 feet. The third floor will be set 20 feet back from Central Avenue.

Like the second proposal, the two-story front facade will have three sections. The center section will emulate historic brick architecture found in downtown Whitefish, architect Rich Graves said. There will be larger window displays. No parking is required as the building will not provide residential units.