City studies regulations for lake vendors

A working group will further examine the issue of commercial vendors on the water at Whitefish Lake.

Regulating sales on the lake came up after concerns were raised about the number of businesses conducting retail sales on the lake in recent summers. City Council first looked at the issue in June and then held another work session Nov. 3.

Councilor Richard Hildner said he spent a few hours this summer at City Beach observing traffic on the boat launch and commercial activity.

“The situation isn’t getting any better,” he said. “We need to explore options.”

The city already requires a license to engage in business within the city and it requires vendor permits to regulate food vendors who operate on private property. It could amend its license or vendor regulations to deal specifically with the lake.

Parks and recreation director Maria Butts concurred that the situation escalated this summer. She said city regulations prohibit vending from City Beach, but that didn’t stop everyone.

“Some stood in ankle deep water to vend,” she said. “We had battles with certain businesses. There is a lot of safety concerns and it was very time consuming for staff.”

Just three years ago there were no private vendors on the lake. This past summer there were five vendors operating on the lake.

“We’ve had requests to do massages on the beach and someone wants to sell ice cream from the water,” Butts said.

Ed Doctor, who owns Tamarack Lake Shop and rents items from a pontoon on the lake, said issues of congestion occur at the boat launch and dock.

“We feel we are far enough away from shore to not cause congestion,” he said. “People tying up to the boat dock is a problem. Having us deliver to boats is a good deal so people aren’t tying up to the dock.”

Jeff Raper agreed that vendors on the water help with the congestion at the boat launch.

“If I have services on the lake, then I don’t have to dock and go into the shoreline concession,” he said.

Councilor John Anderson said the heart of the matter may come down to congestion at the dock.

“It doesn’t sound like there is a real problem with commercial activities on the lake,” Anderson said. “It seems like congestion and maybe it’s not the commercial vendors that are the only problem.”

Several ideas were suggested for regulation of vendors — capping the number allowed to operate on the lake, requiring a 200-foot buffer off the City Beach shore, or requiring watercraft such as paddleboards and kayaks to launch on the east side of the beach.

Another idea suggested was for commercial vendors to apply to a lottery system that would allow them to operate out of one of the pavilions at the beach.

Justin Heyne, owner of Flyboard Montana, said that kind of system would be challenging for businesses.

“Am I looking at not being able to operate the business [if I don’t get drawn in the lottery],” he said.

Anderson said a lottery system seems unfair to the commercial operators.

“The lottery — you can’t make a solid business plan off that,” he said.

Council decided too many questions remained around the issue to make a decision and that a working group should further investigate the issue, including working with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the business community. The list of items the group is tasked with looking at includes, potential commercial regulation for lake, designate a personal watercraft launch on the east side of the beach, launch permits for commercial boats and leasing vendor space at the beach.