Council mulls over Growth Policy changes

Whitefish City Council is taking its time with the biennial review of the city’s 2007 Growth Policy following the recent Montana Supreme Court decision that gave Flathead County jurisdiction of Whitefish’s planning doughnut.

With clarity about who controls the extraterritorial area, council unanimously voted July 21 to create a task force that will work through suggested changes to the long-range planning document.

Citizens for a Better Flathead director Mayre Flowers suggested council slow down and create the task force. She noted that the 2007 document — titled the city-county master plan — was framed around the city’s relationship with the county at the time of its creation.

“The 2007 document tried to blend the city and county,” Flowers said. “This is a new playing field you are on.”

She said the city needs to take time to clarify its vision.

“This is timely now and the opportunity shouldn’t be missed,” she said.

A number of updates to the Growth Policy and its priorities are suggested in the review.

Notably, the addition of an Environmentally Sensitive Areas overlay was unanimously recommended by the City-County Planning Board.

The overlay originally was planned in 1996, but was never added because the city adopted the Critical Areas Ordinance. However, due to controversy, that ordinance was scaled back to the Water Quality Protection Ordinance.

Whitefish Planning Director Dave Taylor says the ESA overlay is “more expansive” and takes into consideration steep slopes, wildlife and groundwater.

“The question then is whether it is worth adding the ESA overlay...to further protect sensitive areas, or whether the current WQP ordinance is sufficient in that regard,” Taylor said.

Staff also is suggesting the city retain the infill policy as part of the Growth Policy. The infill rule discourages new development in rural areas, while encouraging construction on already developed lots.

The policy will go away when 50 percent of those platted lots are developed.

Taylor says that’s only two to three years away, given the recent uptick in new construction. Currently there are about 900 lots available to be built upon. Based on that, 289 new units will need to be built to reach 50 percent infill.

Taylor says it makes sense to continue with the infill rule until the 50 percent threshold is met.

“It is clear that Whitefish still has an overabundance of available lots to build homes on,” he said. “The amenities of open space and high yield prime agricultural land surrounding Whitefish are one of the many reasons many people choose to move to our beautiful community. It would seem unwise to change long-term land use designations on those lands without a demonstrated need or public benefit.”

Making “character based” zoning standards a priority in the Growth Policy struck a chord among some residents.

Character based zoning is intended to protect the character, scale and qualities of existing neighborhoods.

“How things look is more important than the footprint,” said Taylor. He said it encourages new subdivisions that aren’t “cookie-cutter” and helps protect open space through cluster development.

Rhonda Fitzgerald took issue with the idea that existing neighborhoods can be protected though character based zoning. She says the zoning for some neighborhoods doesn’t currently reflect the character of the neighborhood.

“The policy calls for addressing this with character based zoning,” she said. “The problem is, we have neighborhoods that are modest single-family, but are zoned WR-4, which allows commercial use. It’d be very east to make incursions with light industrial uses. We have guillotine blades poised over these neighborhoods.”

Taylor says adding character based zoning will require a significant revision to zoning codes.

“That will likely be a long, drawn out process using steering committees and engaging stakeholders,” he said.

A major component of the Growth Policy review involves revisions to the future land use map that gives a general look at the future growth of Whitefish.

A recommendation that a Neighborhood Commercial classification be tied to WB-1 zoning drew criticism.

Neighborhood Commercial is currently found along Wisconsin Avenue.

Fitzgerald said the classification was “suburban” in nature.

“I’m concerned we’re putting a nice name on something that is a strip mall,” Fitzgerald said. “Whitefish is a neighborhood and we have a downtown core.”

Another area that warrants discussion, Taylor notes, is the Highway 93 South corridor where many businesses are out of compliance with the Growth Policy.

Taylor says discrepancies along Highway 93 South would be best dealt with through corridor plan.

“Although cooperation with the county is essential for any planning south of Highway 40, which is the area most in need of a land-use evaluation,” he said.

Another suggested update includes adding a Resort Commercial zoning designation under property owned by Grouse Mountain Lodge and The Whitefish Lake Lodge.

Currently, those properties are designated at Resort Residential, making them out of compliance with the Growth Policy and limiting their flexibility in future expansions.