2nd Street subdivision, marina expansion highlight planning agenda
The Whitefish City-County Planning Board has a busy agenda for this week’s meeting, including a proposed subdivision, marina expansion, school expansion and review of the city’s growth policy.
Two items were postponed last month after a lack of a quorum forced the April planning board meeting to be canceled. One is a proposal to create a subdivision along East Second Street and the second is a separate request by The Lodge at Whitefish Lake to expand it marina.
Two additional items also appear on Thursday’s agenda. The Whitefish Christian Academy is requesting a conditional use permit to expand their school by adding four temporary modular classrooms to their building. The city is seeking a review of the 2007 Whitefish Growth Policy.
The planning board meets at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.
Second Street Residences
Will MacDonald and Sean Averill of Community Infill Partners recently submitted their latest design for Second Street Residences. The new design calls for less than half the number of housing units originally proposed about a year ago for the 24-acre property.
The developers are seeking to construct a 62-lot subdivision made up of 54 single-family lots and eight townhouse lots. They are requesting a zone change and planned-unit development for the 24-acre property, which overlays zoning and allows for greater flexibility in the design. The site is currently zoned as one-family residential and agriculture. The request seeks to change the zoning to estate residential district.
It’s been about a year since a proposal to develop the property first came forward, originally as the 2nd Street Apartments. The developers first asked for 174 housing units on the property. They returned asking for 150 housing units, and then reformatted the design to 143 units.
Through several public hearings, neighbors of the project continued to claim it was too dense for the area and raise concerns about the increase in traffic they say the development will create. The original density was proposed at 7.3 units per acre with the project a mix of apartments, condominiums and single-family residences. The current proposal is for a density of 2.6 units per acre “to make peace with the surrounding neighbors.”
The Lodge at Whitefish Lake
The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is seeking city approval to expand its marina to include 18 new boats slips and extend the marina farther out into Whitefish Lake.
The proposal seeks to expand the marina for a total of 103 slips, extend the existing dock 19 feet out into the lake and increase the amount of constructed area below the high water mark.
The Lodge is asking for approval from the city for a lakeshore variance and an amendment to its planned unit development overlay to allow for the changes.
The Lodge recently purchased 87 feet of lakeshore frontage to the south, which qualifies it for nine additional boat slips. The current PUD limits the number of marina boat slips to 85 based on the lakeshore frontage owned when it was approved in 1990.
Lakeshore regulations state that a public marina is permitted one boat slip per 10 linear feet of lakeshore frontage. The Lodge is requesting to increase the number of slips by 18, which is roughly one slip per 9 linear feet. In exchange for the extra nine slips requested, The Lodge is proposing as a public benefit that all of the 18 slips be for public use with 14 included in a seasonal public lottery.
However, city planning staff doesn’t feel the additional slips beyond those allowed would meet criteria for a variance. While the additional slips would increase the number available for the general public the overall cost of leasing a slip is beyond what the average citizen can afford, according to the staff report.
Whitefish Christian Academy
The Whitefish Christian Academy is proposing to expand their school on Ashar Avenue by installing two temporary modular classrooms to the west of their existing building.
The classrooms are expected to serve the school’s expanding student population until a larger permanent facility can be secured. The plan calls for at least two modular classrooms to be constructed to the west of the school. There is also the option of installing two additional classrooms to the southwest of the existing building.
As part of the CUP, the school would be required to remove all temporary buildings from the site four years after the first classroom is occupied.
Growth Policy Review
The city is beginning the six-year review of the 2007 Whitefish Growth Policy. Two previous reviews in 2009 and 2012 focused on the narrative, goals and objectives of the plan. This review focuses on the future land maps and categories, recommending some updates where there may be some inconsistencies with current zoning. The review also looks at the infill policy.
The growth policy is a long-range planning document that establishes goals and recommended actions for land use and growth for the greater Whitefish area.
Planning staff has reviewed the future land use map and have found several areas for review and possible revision.
Concerns have been raised with the general commercial/highway commercial designation along Highway 93 South. The commercial designation stops south of town before the secondary business district zoning ends and calls for suburban residential on both sides of the highway. Staff points out that the area on Spokane Avenue from East Sixth Street south to the Whitefish River might be better designated as neighborhood commercial because of narrow lots with predominantly existing residential uses in the area.
In addition, the planning board will be asked to make a recommendation to City Council on whether to retain the infill policy as part of the growth policy. Under the infill policy, the city can’t redesignate land classified as rural or rural residential on the future land use map until at least 50 percent of the previously entitled dwelling units are actually constructed. The rural and rural residential areas are those surrounding the urban area of the city.
The city previously determined that encouraging construction on vacant lots as infill was preferred to allowing more subdivision in rural areas until there truly was a need. The policy goes away when the 50 percent goal is met and based on current development pattern of about 75 new units per year it will take about four years to reach that threshold.