New law pushes lake vendors away from City Beach
Whitefish is enacting restrictions to keep commercial boats on Whitefish Lake from encroaching too close to shore at City Beach.
City Council on May 4 approved an ordinance that prohibits vendors from selling goods within 200 feet of City Beach, and the designated swimming areas and docks, except by permit from the parks department. Under regulations, vendors already had to have special permits to sell any goods, food or services within the boundaries of any city parks.
“In the past few years the city has seen an increase in commercial activities at City Beach,” parks and recreation director Maria Butts said. “This has created safety concerns due to the congestion.”
Regulating sales on the lake came up after concerns were raised about the number of businesses conducting sales on the lake in recent summers. Council held two work sessions on the issue before creating a working group last fall to take a detailed look at the issue.
The ordinance passed 4-0 with minimal discussion. Council has previously noted that the regulations are intended to help mitigate safety concerns.
Butts said the city plans to issue only two vendor permits for City Beach — one for flotation device rental and one for food concession.
“We wanted there to be a no competition clause for them so it was beneficial for them to operate at City Beach,” she said.
However, she said, additional vending permits will be issued for special events, such as Fourth of July.
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. City Beach is the only park that has longterm vendors.
Butts has said the situation at City Beach escalated last summer when some vendors were standing in ankle deep water to avoid previous regulations that only prohibited vending on City Beach.
Just three years ago there were no private vendors on the lake. This past summer there were five vendors operating on the lake.