Corridor plan moves forward

Whitefish is moving forward with a Highway 93 West corridor plan designed to guide the future development of the city’s west entrance.

City Council voted 3-1 on May 4 to approve a resolution of intent to adopt the plan. Councilor Jen Frandsen voted against the measure. Councilors John Anderson and Richard Hildner were absent from the meeting.

“There is a whole lot of opportunity that we’re looking at in this plan, but not a whole lot of proposals for how to mitigate those impacts,” Frandsen said.

“There is a whole lot of suggestions thrown out there into this plan, for us to now reel in and define in the future.”

Councilor Frank Sweeney said the corridor plan is simply a guide and that there will need to be more consideration as development plans arise.

“Accepting the plan represents the hard work of a number of citizens,” he said. “It will give us an idea of what we want for this corridor in the future.”

The plan lays out future land uses from the Veterans Memorial Bridge to Mountainside Drive, and is an addendum to the Whitefish City-County Growth Policy.

The plan recommends the south side of the area remain multi-family residential with some light commercial uses. The north side of the highway, however, has been tagged as “mixed use transitional,” while the Idaho Timber property is an “industrial transitional district.”

Residents have had differing opinions of what the neighborhood should look like. Some want it to remain residential, while others argue that the area has already begun to transition to commercial activity.

Whether or not to allow alcohol production in proposed zoning districts for the corridor remained a matter of contention. The two proposed districts are designed to only be applied in that corridor.

WT-3 is intended for transitional development including high-density residential, professional offices and light manufacturing. The zoning could be applied to the area along the north side of Highway 93 from both sides of north Karrow Avenue to the Veterans Bridge, and it is not designed to be applied to any other area in Whitefish.

WI-T is intended to allow for gradual transition on vacant sites that were traditionally heavy manufacturing to clean industries and business incubators. There are no specific areas for where this zoning could be applied.

Susan Purlman, who lives on West Third Street, said allowing alcohol-related businesses in the neighborhood is very different from allowing artisan manufacturing into the area.

“A pottery business and a microbrewery are different altogether,” she said. “Partly because of the patrons and cars that are exiting onto Highway 93. Breweries are different than multi-family housing, too.”

U.S. House Rep. Ryan Zinke in 2012 proposed creating a microbrewery on the north side of the highway. Zinke, who served on the steering committee, ultimately withdrew his proposal, but the request began discussions about the need for a corridor plan.

“The north side of the highway is different,” Zinke told council last week. “It’s not residential — it has changed. The north side of the highway doesn’t impact Third Street.”

Ultimately, council approved allowing alcohol production as a conditional use in the WI-T zone. It would not be allowed in the WT-3 zone, which is designed to be applied to the north side of the highway, including to the area of Zinke’s proposed microbrewery.

Council split on the motion, with Mayor John Muhlfeld breaking the tie in favor. Councilors Frandsen and Andy Feury voted in favor and councilor Pam Barberis and Sweeney voted against.

Muhlfeld advocated for alcohol production being allowed in both zones.

“We’ve approved distilleries on Baker and had a brewery in the mall,” he said. “We have a microbrewery on Wisconsin, and have a brewery in town. I don’t see why this area is any different.”

Councilor Pam Barberis made a motion to allow for alcohol production in the WT-3 zone, but the motion died for a lack of a second.

Sweeney said no zoning changes are being made by adopting the corridor plan.

“This is about what we will consider in these areas,” he said.

Feury agreed that no zoning changes were being decided.

“We’re not acting on a zone change right now, but we are trying to direct that process,” Feury said. “When it comes time to build those zoning codes and districts people will look back at this.”

At its previous meeting, council made a number of decisions on the specifics of what would be allowed as permitted uses in the two proposed zoning districts. Last week it made a few more, including:

• Council approved the requirement that any building larger than 3,500 square feet in size in the WT-3 zone will need to obtain a conditional use permit to be constructed.

• Decided that the city will go through the process of creating the two new zoning districts, WT-3 and WI-T, and adopting them into the city zoning code. Following that, council will decide whether the city will rezone the area or whether property owners will have to initiate a rezone to implement the new zoning districts.

• Decided that grocery stores, not to exceed 5,000 square feet in size, would be allowed a conditional use in the WI-T zoning district.