City approves Potter's Field parish house on East Second
A parish house on East Second Street will be allowed to house ministry staff for Potter’s Field Ministries.
City Council Jan. 4 in a 5-1 vote approved a conditional use permit that allows up to six staff or interns to reside in the home. Councilor Andy Feury was in opposition. The city requires a conditional use permit if more than four unrelated individuals are living in a single family home.
Steve Venable, executive director for Potter’s Field, said the residents who will live in the house are young adults who have already served with the ministry organization and are coming to Whitefish to work for Potter’s Field.
“The need for the house is because of affordable housing,” he said. “It’s very difficult for us to pay the types salaries that it would take for these individuals to provide their own housing.”
Potter’s Field is a multi-faceted ministry encompassing outreach and evangelism, kids programs in six geographic locations, and a missionary training program for young adults.
Neighbors of the parish house sent emails to the city raising concerns about adequate parking, the transient nature of the house with frequent turnover, and a potential impact to property values.
Camisha Sawtelle told the city while she has had positive interactions with individuals from Potter’s Field, she has concerns about the Second Street house.
“I oppose turning the single family homes in my neighborhood into temporary bunkhouses for the employees/interns/missionaries of the Potter’s Field Ministries,” Sawtelle wrote. “It is unclear to me how this use is allowed and yet temporary rentals are not.”
Venable said the staff members who will live in the house have made a minimum of a year commitment to work for Potter’s Field.
Councilor Richard Hildner asked if the city’s zoning code contains a definition for a parish house.
Planning Director Dave Taylor said it does not, but often common terms aren’t in the zoning code and in that case he relies on the standard dictionary definition. He noted that a parish house is an auxiliary building used for church business or activities or to house a minister.
Hildner asked if it would be possible to condition the CUP to prohibit a rapid turn-over of the residents living there.
City Attorney Angela Jacobs said putting a condition on how long people can live in the house would be impossible to enforce because of privacy.
Much of the discussion from council came over whether the house had adequate parking. The house would be allowed to have up to six residents, but would only be required to have five parking spaces. A diagram for the parking shows three car spaces inside a garage and two outside in a driveway adjacent to the garage.
Hildner said based upon the diagram it didn’t seem the parking was actually practical.
“You can store five cars, but you can’t really park five cars on the site,” he said. “There’s no way two of those cars can get out of the garage if the outside parking is occupied. I’m wondering if we should add conditions to require designated parking in the church’s parking lot across the alley.”
Venable said Potter’s Field could designate two spaces at the church for use by the parish house residents.
Council tied on a vote about whether to require additional parking spaces for the house. Mayor John Muhlfeld broke the tie passing the requirement that Potter’s Field designate two parking spaces at its church building for use by the residents of the parish house. Councilors Frank Sweeney, Richard Hildner and Feury were in favor of the motion, while Councilors Jen Frandsen, Pam Barberis and Katie Williams were in opposition.
Councilor Jen Frandsen said requiring off-site parking didn’t make sense.
“I would much more comfortable with requiring that parking on-site,” she said. “No different than we would for a bed and breakfast. I can’t support the requirement for off-site parking.”