Planned brewery, B&B irks some residents

Members of the Whitefish City-County Planning Board contend the West Second Street neighborhood is evolving.

“It is changing,” said board chairman Ole Netteburg. “It is a fact.”

With that sentiment in mind, the board recommended last week approval of plans for a microbrewery and bed and breakfast, and separately a condominium and office development in the neighborhood.

The board looked at two proposals for potential developments in the area.

One is a request by Randy Bradley for a conditional use permit for an 11-unit condominium development with five professional office spaces. The project is planned to have five buildings with one fronting West Second Street and the others connected by a driveway to West First Street.

The second request by Ryan Zinke is for a planned-unit development overlay on three parcels along West Second Street.

The plan is to construct a microbrewery on the north side of the highway and operate a bed and breakfast in two existing homes on the south side.

Prior to the vote, the board heard from a half dozen residents of the area who asked the board to consider how the developments might negatively impact the neighborhood by driving it more toward commercial uses. Several said they did not have issue with the condo project, but felt the bed and breakfast and brewery are too high traffic and would disturb an otherwise quiet area.

Susan Prillman, whose home is overlooked by one of the bed and breakfast houses, said noise from the bed and breakfast will likely drive her inside her home.

“We have that country feel and that’s why I chose my property,” she said. “The microbrewery, I’m opposed to bringing that into a residential neighborhood. I’m fearful of the consequences.”

Still, others said the two projects open up opportunities in the area.

“I’m delighted to see somebody willing to take on a project like this,” Jim Laidlaw said.

Several planning board members said the neighborhood has already begun to change.

“The neighborhood is going to change with the new highway,” Netteburg said noting the state Department of Transportation’s plans next year to widen the road. “That will change the character of the neighborhood. It’s not the sweet residential area it was — that’s already a fading factor.”

The board’s recommendation will be forwarded to the city council at its Dec. 3 meeting.

Zinke called the area “a corridor in flux” with a mix of businesses and homes that he would like to see improved. The Zinke family has owned the site of the bed and breakfast for 75 years.

“Nobody cares about Whitefish more than me,” Zinke told the planning board. “They might care as much, but not more than me.”

The properties are zoned for low density multi-family residential. The PUD would overlay that zoning for flexibility with a detail plan rather than relying on specific zoning requirements.

The bed and breakfast, under the name Snow Frog Inn, is proposed to have six guest rooms in one house plus three guest rooms and onsite manager quarters in an adjacent home.

Zinke’s plan includes landscaping and fencing between the inn and the adjacent properties, including relocating a garage.

“I’ve think I’ve done everything I can to mitigate the Snow Frog the best I can,” he said.

The microbrewery proposed, for across the road, would be located at the site of two existing older homes and would be constructed in a new 3,000 square foot building which includes a parking lot.

Zinke said the brewery, The Double Tap, would look like a Great Northern Railway granary. The tasting room at the brewery will serve two beers on tap. By state law, Zinke noted, he can only be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is restricted to serving 48 ounces of beer in 24 hours per person.

“There is limited production and consumption,” he said. “I think brewers are artisans.”

To satisfy the requirement for public benefit for the PUD, Zinke is proposing a 16-foot public access easement on the brewery property for a bike path. The path is proposed to eventually connect to the city’s system along the Whitefish River.

In a Planning Office report, staff noted that the project doesn’t comply with the city’s growth policy. While there is limited commercial activity permitted in the low-density multi-family residential zoning in the area, “this proposal goes beyond that which is permitted or conditionally permitted within, in this zone,” Planner Wendy Compton-Ring wrote in the report.

She agreed that the neighborhood is evolving. It may not be conducive to single family residential once the road is upgraded and some commercial uses may be acceptable, but that decision has not been made for the corridor, the report notes.

“A piecemeal approach to planning for this corridor, an entryway into our community, could be disastrous,” she writes in the report. “Staff finds it difficult to recommend approval of this application with different commercial uses than the zoning permits absent a corridor plan and different zoning.”

Compton-Ring recommended the application be tabled until a corridor study for West Second Street/ U.S. 93 West could be completed.

During public comment, Barbara Palmer told the planning board she’d like to see a corridor study done before moving forward.

“If we have a corridor study done and we decide a bed and breakfast and a brewery are good then that’s fine,” she said. “This is a huge change and has an impact on the neighborhood.”

Zinke told the planning board that he would not be willing to do a corridor study.

“I can’t pay for a corridor study,” Zinke said. “If the city mandates it, I won’t pay for it.”

Board member Diane Smith pointed to a long-planned corridor study for U.S. 93 South that has yet to be completed.

“If we make this subject to a corridor study that’s about the equivalent to denying it,” she said.

However, planning staff disagreed saying that if the city council approved the funding, a corridor study for the area could be made a priority.

Ultimately, the board voted to recommend the project without requiring the corridor study. Mary Vail was the sole vote against. Conditions of the approval include a requirement to obtain approval for a construction plan for the sites, paving parking lots, the microbrewery shall not bottle on site, and a landscaping plan shall be submitted.

The board chose to remove two conditions of approval that had been recommended by planning staff. The first would have prevented use of another property owned by Zinke on West Third Street to be used as access to the bed and breakfast. The second removed condition, would have banned special events, such as weddings, from taking place at the bed and breakfast.

“I want to see businesses in Whitefish,” said board member Rick Blake. “We need places for people to stay.”

Board member Ken Stein dismissed concerns about noise from the bed and breakfast guests saying the guests that stay in that type of lodging are typically older and seek privacy.

“In my own experience they are quiet,” he said. “They don’t want their next door neighbor to hear them.”

The planning board unanimously approved recommending Bradley’s request for a conditional use permit for the condominium and professional office spaces on 1.3 acres in the low-density multifamily residential district.

Earlier in the evening the board tabled the request in favor of hearing about the Zinke properties first. A few board members noted they wanted to hear about the Zinke plan and the corridor study before making a decision.

“I’m concerned if we tell one developer we like it and we have concerns about traffic and noise for the other, when we weigh these two together it looks silly,” board member Dennis Konopatzke said. “I’m a little hesitant to vote on this (the Bradley) project untill we vote on the other project.”