Planning Board turns down Fresh Life Church project

Following three-and-a-half hours of public comment and discussion, the Whitefish Planning Board on Thursday voted unanimously to recommend denial for a proposal by Fresh Life Church to build a mixed-use building on Central Avenue.

A total of 26 members of the community spoke during public comment period, while four spoke in favor of the church’s plan, the remainder spoke in opposition.

Board member John Ellis made the motion to deny the conditional use permit. He cited concerns about increased parking and street traffic as a result, while also noting that the proposal doesn’t fit with the downtown character and zoning regulations prohibit having a church on ground level. The findings of fact in the city planning staff report had too many “maybes” to fit the criteria for a CUP, Ellis said.

City Council is set to hold a public hearing on Feb. 20 on the matter and will make a final decision on the request.

The church’s proposal calls for constructing a new 11,200-square-foot mixed-use building on Central Avenue on three city lots that include the lot where Lakestream Fly Shop stood for many years at 334 Central Ave. The new building would include several retail spaces along the street front and a church in the back, in a space seven-feet below ground, which developers say they consider not to be at ground-level.

For Ellis, the main sticking point against the project seemed to be the appearance of avoiding having a ground-level church by lowering the floor in the back by seven feet. The city’s downtown master plan calls for edge-to-edge retail, and bringing in a church in what would otherwise be retail space in other projects seemed to not align with that plan, he said.

“We’re having a sleight of hand by having no real ground floor retail all the way to the back of the lot,” Ellis said. “I think that’s just a gimmick to avoid how the zoning regulations are written.”

A CUP is required for buildings larger than 7,500-square-feet in the downtown. The Old Town Central District zoning doesn’t allow a church at ground-level.

John Mark Creamer, operations pastor at Fresh Life, presented updated plans to the board during the meeting, having moved the entrance to the center of the building on Central Avenue and updated the approximate square-footage of the building. Converting the proposed lots to for-profit retail spaces makes the area much more attractive from a tax status, Creamer said.

Even with a tax-exempt church on the location, Creamer estimated that with several new businesses on 4,500 square feet of retail space and a new building, the taxable value of the location would increase roughly $7,000 from its current value.

“This direction, of going to for-profit businesses, it drastically improves the status of the property from its current setup,” he said.

Creamer also touched on the issue of increased parking demand in the block, which also includes the First Presbyterian Church. Fresh Life has been in contact with other churches nearby and plan to schedule their service times around conflicting services, he said. Similarly, Creamer noted that in the last six years of holding services in other downtown locations like the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, parking has never come up as an issue.

Under the zoning, the church is not required to provide any parking.

Planning Board member Allison Linville said moving to the new location would place a new burden on residential street parking.

“My concern is more about the residential streets nearby. So whereas when you’re at O’Shaughnessy it’s not a residential area, but your proposed location would be right near that neighborhood there, and I think some of the people who live there have voiced concerns,” she said.

“Quite simply, the zoning doesn’t require it,” Creamer responded. “My understanding is that as this downtown growth plan happens, that is going to bring added traffic impact to this area anyway, and so if this happens as envisioned, then the added traffic impact is actually going to be happening seven days a week as retail spaces are open impact to the neighboring parking.”

Most of the comments during the one-hour public comment period opposed some aspect of Fresh Life’s plan.

Greta Gansauer said she was concerned with how the church fits in with the old town district and didn’t want to see another historic building torn down.

“I understand this project complies with zoning standards, but I ask you to consider its compliance with the wishes of this community. Fresh Life has become a large brand that is inconsistent with the tourism brand and the small town neighborhood atmosphere of this community,” she said. “Fresh Life has shown in Kalispell that they do not care to comply with the existing downtown character. This corporation wants to tear down a 109-year-old building that is part of our historic downtown and add Whitefish to another notch in its belt.”

Fresh Life was founded in Kalispell where it has purchased several historic buildings and is also constructing a building downtown. In addition, it purchased the Montana Building in Kalispell in 2016 and canceled leases with business tenants there.

Tim Murphy, whose State Farm Insurance agency operates next door to the proposed Fresh Life location, agreed that the church was not appropriate for that block of downtown.

“I am not opposed to the addition of a place of worship in our town, but I don’t think downtown Whitefish is the best spot,” Murphy said.

And while most who spoke at the meeting came with comments prepared ahead of time, Nancy Tigue said she came with no prior feelings and wanted to take the pulse of the community at the meeting.

“I think as a citizen I’ve heard a lot that has convinced me that this is not the place to have a church expanding, here within the very heart of Whitefish,” she said “The pros are very good, but the cons really have swayed me.”

During public comment, Mike Goguen, a local philanthropist and business owner, said he’s only seen good things from Fresh Life and its members, and he thinks bringing traffic to Central Avenue will be beneficial to downtown business owners on Sunday mornings.

“From a business perspective, what I did notice is it was a net positive. [On Sunday mornings] it’s relatively speaking a dead time on Central and that burst of enthusiastic people from all parts of our community [would be] showing up in downtown Whitefish,” he said. “I do know from going to the Kalispell location quite a bit, when people arrive for those services there’s a lot of walking involved ... I want those people walking down Central Avenue past every one of those retail shops.”

Sean Dillon, a longtime resident and Fresh Life member, attested to the impact the church has had on his own life.

“Fresh Life has had just an amazing positive impact on the health and life of my family. I would wish that same kind of positive impact for everybody in this room, honestly,” he said. “It’s been just a tremendous experience.”

Board Chair Steve Qunell noted the importance of public comment in this sort of a project, and said he was delighted to see such “civil” discourse during the meeting.

“Change doesn’t feel good and it makes us react as human beings in a way that we wouldn’t necessarily ordinarily react,” he said. “One thing that’s nice about this is it’s a public hearing where we can be civil.”

Qunell said he would look forward to Fresh Life returning with a plan for another location “that suits our city a little better.”

City Councilor and Planning Board member Richard Hildner said he was astounded by both the turnout at the meeting as well as the reasonable way everyone acted, despite opposing views on the controversial issue.

“I counted 118 people in here at one moment in time this evening, and I think that is a demonstration to me as a government teacher that democracy is alive and well in Whitefish,” Hildner said.

Founded in 2007 by the Rev. Levi Lusko and his wife Jenny Lusko, Fresh Life Church began in Kalispell and has expanded to include campuses in Whitefish, Polson, Missoula, Bozeman, Billings, Helena, Great Falls, Butte, and at out-of-state sites. Fresh Life’s Whitefish congregation has been meeting at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, Casey’s and the O’Shaughnessy Center for several years.