City looks at annexing 44 more properties

Whitefish is considering a plan to annex a smattering of properties around town that are surrounded by city limits.

Forty-four properties are being considered, with many of those located on Ramsey Avenue. During a Sept. 6 work session, City Council agreed to move forward with the annexation procedure which includes a public hearing and final vote later this fall.

City Manager Chuck Stearns said the annexation is an attempt to add properties to the city that are considered wholly surrounded.

“I went through all the boundaries of the city and looked at all the properties that you had to pass through the city to get to the property,” Stearns said. “When you look at these, you might be surprised they’re not already in the city limits.”

Under state law, the city can annex properties using the wholly surrounded method without property owners having the right to protest when access to the properties can only be gained by crossing through the city.

Fourteen of the properties are located along Ramsey Avenue. The other properties are spread throughout the city on Jennings Avenue, Good Avenue, Tideway Drive, Baker Avenue, O’Brien Avenue, Pheasant Run, Highway 93, Colorado Avenue, Shiloh Avenue, Monegan Road, Whitefish Lookout Road, Ridge Crest Drive and a few properties located between Park Avenue and Ashar Avenue.

During its work session, Council had mixed feelings about moving forward with annexation.

Councilor Jen Frandsen said she feels it’s too soon to have another set of annexations following the city’s annexation in July of 25 properties on West Lakeshore Drive.

“I’m nervous about going for another annexation,” she said. “I’d like to see more time pass. Piggybacking on the last one seems a bit aggressive.”

Councilor Andy Feury disagreed, saying it’s the right time for the city to move forward.

“The only way we can have control of these properties for planning purposes is to annex,” he said. “The city has long struggled with a jumbled boundary to the city limits and I think it’s the right move to fix that.”

Councilor Frank Sweeney said it’s unusual for property surrounded by the city properties to be left in the county.

“In any other place these properties would have never been allowed to stay outside the city,” he said.

If the 44 properties become part of the city it would generate about $12,000 annually in new tax revenue for the city. Stearns noted that’s “not any big windfall” for the city and it will cost about half that amount to complete the annexation for staff time, mailing notices, running legal ads related to the annexation.

Property owners in the areas considered for annexation will typically face between a 16 and 28 percent increase in their tax bill as a result of annexation, according to the city.

City Council in 2014 set a priority list for properties to be considered for annexation. The properties on East Lakeshore Drive were second on that list and third was the areas around Ramsey Avenue along with the other wholly surrounded parcels of land scattered throughout the city.

Properties on Houston Drive remain at the top on the city’s priority list, but that annexation has been held up by litigation. Property owners in the Houston Lakeshore Tract and Stocking Addition have filed an appeal with the Montana Supreme Court claiming that a Flathead District Court erred in its decision in favor of the city saying it can annex the properties by bundling eight separate tracts using the wholly surrounded method of annexation.