City moves forward with street lights on West 7th

To some residents, West Seventh Street is a quiet neighborhood that has little use for city street lights. Others believe street and pedestrian upgrades in the area mandate adding lighting.

It’s a difference of opinion Whitefish City Council struggled with March 21 as it approved the construction contract for the project.

Ultimately, Council approved the project to include street lights along the entire length of West Seventh, but not before it hashed out whether it is the right move for the neighborhood.

Councilor Frank Sweeney has been a vocal opponent of installing street lights on West Seventh Street.

“There is a ground swell that say they do not want to put lights on that part of Seventh,” he said. “That area of our city remains almost rural. Adding street lights won’t make it safer — there is a low volume of traffic and a low speed limit on that street.”

Councilor Richard Hildner said he understands that some of the neighbors don’t want street lights, but it’s a safety issue to not have lights.

“This is about the broader picture,” Hildner said. “This is about the welfare of the city — West Seventh is a major thoroughfare. The lighting is part and parcel of what we need to do out there.”

West Seventh is set to undergo a major reconstruction from Baker Avenue to Fairway Drive this summer. Steep intersections will be improved, the roadway will be realigned, and an off-street pedestrian path and sidewalk will be installed. The city plans to upgrade the corridor to include decorative lighting and plans to experiment on a portion of the street with LED fixtures with the goal of energy savings.

Public Works Director Craig Workman said the desires of the neighborhood as a whole are to keep the lighting levels as low as possible in order to maintain safe travel. The plan includes the installation of street lighting every 180 feet.

“We feel this plan meets the desires of the majority of the neighborhood, and accomplishes the goal of providing a safe design,” Workman said. “We are also planning to add some lighting along the gully path and would like to incorporate some pedestrian scale bollards.”

Sweeney said he would be comfortable installing the infrastructure for the street lights, but not the fixtures themselves. He motioned for allowing street lights to be installed between Baker Avenue and Geddes Avenue, and only wiring for the lights from Geddes to Karrow Avenue. However, the motion died for a lack of second.

Council held several votes on whether to approve the contract to include the street lights before coming to a consensus. The final vote to include the lights was approved 5-1 with Sweeney as the only vote against.

The contract is with LHC, Inc. in the amount of $2 million. The resort tax fund is set to pay for the project.

Installing of a parking lot at the James R. Bakke Nature Reserve on Seventh also was part of two alternate bids for the project.

One alternate bid would allow the construction company to create a graded gravel parking lot at the reserve. The company would use it for a staging area and then it would become a parking area. The lot would require the removal of seven trees. This would cost $9,700.

A second alternate bid would pave the gravel parking lot at a cost of about $8,000.

Parks and Recreation Director Maria Butts said the reserve is planned to remain in a natural state with a walking trail. She noted that the True Life Church, which is located across Seventh from the preserve, is worried about folks parking in their lot to access the reserve.

Council asked staff to return with a proposal that would limit the number of trees removed and decrease the size of the parking lot.

Councilor Andy Feury said he would be interested in a five-space parking lot.

“One thing we don’t have a lot of in this community is places to park your car and access the bike path,” he said. “The bike path is going to be out there, so this would be a good spot for that.”