Board recommends expansion of Christian Academy

The Whitefish Planning Board last week unanimously recommended approval for a proposed expansion to the Whitefish Christian Academy.

The school is requesting a conditional use permit to expand its current building by 11,000-square-feet. Additions would include a two-story classroom, administration area, bathroom area, and an gym/auditorium. A new parking lot is also proposed to the west side of the building accessing of East Eighth Street and an expanded parking area to the east of the building off Ashar Avenue.

In 2014, City Council allowed the school to add two temporary classrooms to the west during a planned expansion. Those classrooms, added in 2015, will be removed.

Speaking for the academy during the Sept. 19 meeting, TDH Engineer Doug Peppmeier said he’s aware of traffic concerns, but said the build-out of Eighth Street through the WCA project and other developments on the street will greatly improve flow.

“We’ve worked with public works staff and it’s going to be a requirement to construct the street. I’m sure everybody’s used this area and it’s very awkward,” he told the board.

Concerns from the public included fears of increased traffic, as well as, frustration with the current road configuration on East Eight Street.

The project would up the parking total to 84 spaces, which meets the city’s parking standard, and would reroute traffic. At present, traffic enters and exists off Ashar Avenue, while employees use a paved area on the building’s north side off East Eighth Street, which runs one-way westward.

The project instead would remove the north entrance to the school and route parent and student traffic onto East Eighth Street. Employee traffic would enter and exit on either Ashar or Park Avenue into a new parking lot to the west, and the north side parking lot would be removed.

Due to increased usage, the Public Works Department is requesting that East Eighth Street be upgraded to a two-way street with curb and gutter on both sides and also include a sidewalk with a 6-foot boulevard on one side of the road.

Peppmeier also said because the biggest part of the addition is a gym, there’s no expected increase in traffic due to a higher student population.

“Because we’re adding a gym, we’re not adding a bunch more students. The number of students is actually declining. If you look at how many students they currently have, it’s not like putting in a gym is going to add a ton more students. The one thing Public Works is going to have to look at is with a larger gym, you can also host events, so we’ll need to accommodate when you have a larger number of people there,” he said.

“I think the saying is, ‘You don’t design a church for Christmas,’” he added. “You’ve kind of got to look at the actual daily usage versus those one-time events.”

The board added conditions for sufficient bike racks and streetlights before recommending approval.

Board chair Steve Qunell said the project will help improve an area that currently has confusing traffic patterns.

“I think the addition of having them rebuild Eighth Street makes this much more palatable in my estimation,” he said. “It was really going to be a dead end, weird thing down there before and I appreciate you working with the city to do that extra work. It’s going to add safety and flow to that area that needs it.”

The proposal will go to City Council for a public hearing and vote on Oct. 7.

During the meeting, the board also:

- Unanimously recommended approval for a request by Matt Danford for a conditional use permit to construct an accessory apartment over a proposed two-car garage at 1047 Columbia Avenue.

- Unanimously recommended approval for a request by Courtland Chelmo for a conditional use permit to construct an accessory apartment above an existing garage at 725 Riverside Drive.

- Unanimously recommended approval for a request by Sandra Hartman to rezone one parcel from one-family residential to two-family residential at 1320 Wisconsin Avenue. The property currently contains a single-family residence on the southern of the two lots, and the zone change would permit development of a duplex on the northern of the two lots as planned by the owner.