Council reduces parking obligations for smaller units

New multi-family buildings in Whitefish will now have to provide less parking than in the past.

City Council last week approved changes to the city code for off-street parking that now requires 1.25 space for studio/efficiency apartments and 1.5 space per one-bedroom apartment. The city’s previous parking standards, regardless of the size of the unit required two parking spaces per dwelling unit plus one guest space for every three units.

The idea for the change came as Judah Gersh began looking to develop property on Colorado Avenue. He is looking to develop studio and one-bedroom apartments.

“The single thing that kills studio apartments is parking,” he said. “We are looking to lease to people with one car that are walking to work and shop.”

The city’s current parking standards were created in 1994.

Senior Planner Wendy Compton-Ring said that the Whitefish Strategic Housing Plan and the Climate Action Plan both recommend updates to the parking standards.

“Developers have said what is preventing them from developing affordable housing is anything that takes up space — like parking,” she said.

During public comment, two folks asked Council to work on the changes further before approving them.

Rhonda Fitzgerald said she supports revising the parking standards, but not without the necessary sideboards.

“Parking should be considered by zone and location,” she said. “This should have a link to affordable housing otherwise we’re creating a lower cost for the developer without insuring affordable housing.”

She said areas of Whitefish already have on-street parking problems and regulations should make sure that doesn’t become worse.

Rebecca Norton said she wasn’t comfortable how the changes came forward at the request of one developer.

“His intention is wonderful, but you can’t apply this globally without looking at this. People do have to rely on cars. This could make an unlivable situation, if we don’t set which zones are appropriate for this.”

Kate McMahon, who works as a private planner, said Whitefish parking standards are out-of-date.

“Most places do break down the parking by efficiency or one-bedroom,” she said.

Kalispell’s parking regulations for multi-family residential housing, requires one space per efficiency unit and 1.5 spaces per units with one or more bedrooms. Bozeman requires 1.25 spaces per efficiency unit and 1.5 for one-bedroom units. Missoula bases its parking requirements for multi-family dwelling units on square footage — units under 850 square feet require 1 space per unit, for units 850 to 1,999 square feet the requirement is 1.5 spaces, and for units 2,000 square feet of more 2 spaces are required per unit.

Though a few Councilors did express some concerns about the changes not providing enough parking, Council ultimately voted unanimously to approve the changes.

“I think requiring more than anybody else is a wake-up call,” Councilor Andy Feury said.