Council pushes vote on mixed-use building to New Year

A decision on whether the construction of a new mixed-use building will be allowed on Central Avenue has been delayed until next year.

Developers proposing to remove the building that formerly housed the Lakestream Fly Shop and construct a new building in its place requested a delay in a decision. City Council on Dec. 3 voted to continue the issue to its Jan. 7 meeting and continue the public hearing on the matter, but not before a few expressed concerns about whether the new building is the right fit for the block.

Aaron Wallace, with Montana Creative representing the developer, asked the decision to be pushed until a full Council could be present for the vote. At the Dec. 3 meeting, Councilors Andy Feury and Ryan Hennen, along with Mayor John Muhlfeld, were absent from the meeting.

“This is a big project that deserves more review with substantial numbers,” he said.

Council agreed to the delay.

“This is one of the most important decisions we will make for our downtown,” Councilor Richard Hildner said.

Bill Goldberg, who owns the property, is seeking to construct a new building that would include retail and commercial spaces on the first floor, and residential on the second and third floors of the new building.

Council still asked several questions about the project during the meeting last week, revolving around the redevelopment of the site and the amount of retail space planned for the proposed new building.

Hildner read from the city’s downtown master plan noting it says the area would be redeveloped to match adjacent “existing desirable buildings.”

“My idea of adjacent buildings is next to and not a block away,” he said.

Planning Director Dave Taylor said the proposed new building would fit in the context of the existing neighborhood and would also follow the master plan’s vision that buildings on that block would become closer to what is found north of Third Street on Central.

“This does extend the retail loop south to Fourth,” he said. “The downtown master plan has the intent that this block would redevelop at some point with ground floor retail and mixed-use development.”

Councilor Frank Sweeney questioned whether the new building would house enough retail space, noting that the plans call for both retail and commercial spaces on the ground floor.

“There is a lack of dedication to first floor retail,” he said. “The amount is a less than a third of the building. One of the important things in the downtown master plan is retail.”

Wallace said the owner wants to keep options open for the first floor space and noted that commercial uses are allowed in that area of the downtown.

“For the units that are farther into the building and off the street it’s harder to find retail owners,” he said. “We wanted to provide some flexibility so that we don’t have a dead building.”

During public comment, Chris Schustrom, representing the Heart of Whitefish, said the building design doesn’t meet the intent of the downtown master plan.

“The downtown master plan says it must be continuous edge to edge retail,” he said. “This is less ground floor retail space than Fresh Life Church was planning.”

City Council earlier this year turned down a request by Fresh Life Church to construct a mixed-use building for the church and retail spaces at the same site saying the church’s building wasn’t the right fit and had not planned to provide enough retail space.

Last week during public comment, Rhonda Fitzgerald told Council it could condition the permit to require only retail uses on the ground floor.

“The downtown master plan is designed to attract investment into the core of town,” she said. “But it needs to be the right type of investment.”

She also expressed concern that the building’s residential units will actually be used for vacation rentals noting that residential in the downtown is meant for year-round residents to support downtown business.

Wallace disagreed that use of the residential units as vacation rentals would be harmful.

“We are a resort town,” Wallace said. “The turnover from [vacation rentals] is a benefit to retail and restaurants — it does make a more vibrant downtown.”

The plan calls for constructing the building to include landscaping and balconies on the north and south sides of the building. Concern was also raised from the public about not constructing the building to the lot line and how that could impact the redevelopment of the adjacent properties.

A conditional use permit is required to construct the 8,205-square-foot building because it exceeds 7,500 square feet, has more than four residential units and is in the WB-3 zone and Old Town Central District.

The plan calls for nine units, a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units on the second floor and three total residential units on the third floor in two- and three-bedroom size.

The city’s downtown master plan calls for multifamily housing in that area and the growth policy calls for commercial and mixed-used development on the south end of Central.

The plan for the new building calls for parking in the basement for 20 vehicles. The building would have rooftop access and a small patio at the center with an area for a hot tub.