Work on shore of Whitefish Lake has necessary permits

Construction of an access road and the removal of some trees on property along the east shore of Whitefish Lake has drawn concern from neighbors but is legally permitted work being done on private property, WGM Group senior planner BJ Grieve said.

The 11-acre lakeshore tract south of East Lakeshore Drive, along with another 27 acres on both sides of Big Mountain Road, are owned by Joe Gregory. Gregory also owns Krummholz Lodge, a gated vacation compound on Whitefish Lake off Dakota Avenue.

Gregory has contemplated building a resort lodge on the property he owns near the intersection of Big Mountain Road and East Lakeshore Drive, but has no firm plans yet on how the property will be developed, Grieve said. The property is under county planning jurisdiction.

“All Joe has is a concept of what a lodge might look like,” he said.

Gregory hired WGM Group to represent him at recent neighborhood meetings held by a steering committee that is working on a corridor plan for Wisconsin Avenue, the main north-south highway on the city’s north side. Grieve was asked to make a presentation about Gregory’s concept at the committee’s March 14 meeting, which drew comments from concerned citizens who also attended.

Last week several citizens contacted city and county officials, the Whitefish Lake Institute and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to express concerns with the recent activity on Gregory’s land.

Grieve inspected the property recently and then reported to those agencies what he found.

“Many of the concerned citizens don’t know about the existing permits, and from certain angles activity taking place behind the 20-foot lakeshore protection zone can look very close to the lake,” Grieve told the Daily Inter Lake. “[It’s] very understandable, and engaged citizens that care about the lake are what make Whitefish great.”

A 2012 lakeshore construction permit issued by the city of Whitefish and under extension by Flathead County allowed for exterior repairs to a bunkhouse cabin, reconstruction of a pavilion and removal of a boathouse and relocation of the water pump inside the boathouse, Grieve said.

The north third of the pavilion is outside the lakeshore protection zone, and the permit allows for dry-set steps to be added to access the southeast corner of the pavilion, which is above the mean annual high water and the ordinary high water. Grieve said the steps won’t be built right now because they would approach the ordinary high water and will require further permitting from the Army Corps of Engineers.

A 2016 lakeshore permit was issued by the county for reconstruction of an existing cabin in the lakeshore zone. That work has not begun, but an access road has been built on the property — outside the lakeshore protection zone — to get to the cabin.

The highway approach onto East Lakeshore Drive was issued by the state Department of Transportation on Jan. 12.

Grieve said Gregory has taken several voluntary steps to protect the lake, such as providing silt fencing and netting in areas where soil has been disturbed. Gregory is requiring the contractor to keep a daily log and conduct daily inspections of the silt fencing. He also is paying to revegetate additional side areas outside the lakeshore protection zone with native plants.

Trees removed for the access road were outside the lakeshore protection area. State law requires a stormwater pollution prevention plan if more than one acre of land is disturbed, but the affected area on Gregory’s property was well less than one acre, Grieve said.

Conceptual plans for Gregory’s project include a lodge on the lakeshore property, with residential development and ancillary buildings on the properties flanking Big Mountain Road. The Department of Transportation likely would require traffic mitigation. A traffic roundabout at the intersection of Big Mountain Road and East Lakeshore Drive has been suggested by Gregory and Grieve, but that’s a decision the state ultimately would make.

There is no projected time-line for the project, and no plans have been submitted to the county Planning Office.

If the project comes to fruition, the property would connect to city water and sewer service because there is an existing municipal utility line within 200 feet, and would be annexed into the city. The 2007 Whitefish growth policy has a future land-use designation of suburban residential development in that area. The Wisconsin corridor planning process aims to study what kind of development is appropriate for that area.

“We plan to continue working within the corridor planning process to understand the community’s concerns and preferences,” Grieve said.