Lodge mariana expansion scaled back

The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is on track to expand its public marina this summer.

The Whitefish City-County Planning Board is recommending approval of a request to add nine boat slips and extend the dock 19 feet out into Whitefish Lake.

The Averill family, which owns The Lodge, initially asked for 18 additional slips — nine slips more than permitted based on lakeshore frontage. But at Thursday’s meeting, Sean Averill said adding only nine would suffice.

He said there’s a demand for more boat slips, which is why they originally asked for 18 slips.

“We want to get more people access to the lake,” Averill said. “The public clearly wants this. That’s why we came in with 18.”

“But we got a lot of comments about it — some people didn’t think it was that great.”

If the expansion is approved, the Lodge will have 94 total slips. Boat slips rent for about $2,500 a season. About nine of the slips are for day-use and are open to the public at no cost.

Averill said the request to extend the dock into deeper water would help keep boats from stirring up the lakebottom.

“I do think the extra 19 feet is important to get props off the mud,” he said.

Former Lakeshore Protection Committee chair Jim Stack said the bay seems to be shallower in the summer because the lake is dropping to its low-water level in July instead of August. He noted that as more entities pull water from the lake, the quicker it drops.

“It’s very shallow in there,” he said. “In late July, you have to raise your motor.”

In motioning to approve the marina expansion, board member Vic Workman said the extra boat slips will allow for better access to the lake.

“Whitefish Lake is open to the public and right now they don’t have enough access to it,” he said. “I’m getting real tired of hearing ‘Not in my backyard.’”

The board recommended approval of the expansion on a 3-2 vote, with John Ellis and Theodore Roosendahl opposed.

A few neighbors voiced their disapproval of the proposed expansion.

Judy Pettinato said her property on Monk’s Bay has been in the family since 1957.

She said adding more boat slips will only add more boat traffic on the already busy lake.

“People do die in lakes when there’s lots of boats and people,” she said, noting that her father Frank Stephens was killed on the lake in a boating accident at age 54.

“With more boats on the lake and in that bay, we’re more likely to have an accident.”

She claimed other property owners have “gone through hoops” to get docks on the lake.

“This is not the beginning or ending of lake grabbing,” she said of The Lodge’s proposed marina expansion.

Lakeshore Protection Committee member Cole Abell was glad to see The Lodge drop their request to nine slips, but said the dock extension was too far.”

“Nineteen feet may not seem like much,” he said, “but that’s added to 250 feet.”

“No one else gets to go out that far. Were letting a neighbor get to do what others can’t.”

Averill said The Lodge was different because its a public marina.