Gas station approved for south entrance to city

A Town Pump gas station and convenience store has garnered approval for the city’s south gateway, despite overwhelming public opposition to the project and an obvious reluctance on the part of Whitefish City Council to approve it.

The City of Whitefish received about 70 comments regarding the proposal with most of those speaking against the project slated for the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 93 and Montana 40. Concerns included removing additional mature trees from the property, potential environmental impacts, increased traffic congestion and negative aesthetics of a gas station being located there.

City Council last week in a split vote of 4-2 approved a conditional use permit for the project following lengthy debate from Councilors who were upfront in their desire to deny the project, but felt legally they had little choice in the matter.

Councilors Rebecca Norton and Ryan Hennen were the sole votes against approval.

Norton said Whitefish has created a strong brand for itself and that does not include a gas station at the entrance to the city.

“A Councilor’s job is to represent the will of the people and I haven’t seen any comments in support of this,” she said. “This is the entrance to our city and will take away from the beauty of our community and that’s a travesty.”

Councilor Andy Feury said he didn’t want to see a gas station and convenience store at the corner any more than the dozens of people who sent comments to Council asking them to deny the project because it would be an eyesore at the city’s gateway. However, he noted, unfortunately that’s not a legal reason for Council to reject the plan.

“I don’t want our entrance to be like every town in Montana [with a gas station],” he said.

After breaking an initial tie vote by Council on a motion that sought to reject the project, Mayor John Muhlfeld said to deny the CUP would have likely meant a lawsuit against the city.

Town Pump’s plan calls for constructing a building about 13,700-square-feet in size with two detached automobile fueling stations and one detached RV fueling station.

The property was annexed into the city last year and is about 5.4 acres in size. A CUP is required for gas stations and convenience stores in the WB-2 zoning district, which the property has been zoned as for about 40 years.

The meeting, held electronically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, still earned a lengthly list of emails ahead of time with comments on the project.

During public comment, Justin Holley said the project wouldn’t do anything to add to the character of the town.

“What message are we conveying when people come into town and the first thing they see is a gas station?” he said.

Roger Sherman, a member of the steering committee working on the city’s Highway 93 South Corridor Plan that is still being drafted, said in a letter to Council that the gas station would be a travesty and an insult against the committee who has been working for two years to create a plan for the south end of Whitefish.

“The steering committee has worked hard with excellent ideas and some real solutions,” he said. “If the city administrators are going to turn their backs on this hard work and treat it in superfluous attitude then we loyal committee members have wasted our time and the committee should just dissolve.”

Genevieve Bennett asked Council not to approve a “sea of asphalt and oversized building not in keeping with the strongly expressed community vision for the highway corridor.”

Stephanie Elm said Whitefish already has enough gas stations.

“Let’s not further spoil what Whitefish has to offer in charm and beauty by allowing this sort of development on one of the main entrances into Whitefish,” she said.

Jason Egeline, of CWG Architects, in representing the developer said the gas station is designed to offer nearby service to those who need it and eliminate the need to drive greater distances or make it possible to walk to purchase convenience store items along with products like bread and milk.

“Town Pump’s goal is to work with the city and we hope that you see that we’ve done that in our design,” he said. “We want to build in the city limits to avoid urban sprawl happening in the county.”

Dan Sampson, with Town Pump, pointed out that the company is based in Montana and gives back to the community frequently through philanthropic endeavors.

“We wanted to produce a product Whitefish could be proud of,” he said. “There was the opportunity to push this through, but we chose to work with you through this process.”

Council in December approved changes to the zoning code that requires all gas stations and hotels in the WB-2 zoning district to obtain a CUP. Businesses over 10,000 square feet in size in the WB-2 also have to obtain a CUP.

Last week Councilor Frank Sweeney too said he didn’t relish in approving the project, but made motions to add more than a half dozen additional conditions to the project.

“I’m not enthralled by a gas station on that corner,” he said. “All the concerns we’ve heard are taken to heart, but there are mitigations that can be made for each and every one of them so we don’t have an option.”

As part of its approval, Council added several conditions to the CUP including building setbacks and buffering, electrical vehicle charging stations, preservation of all mature trees, a separated shared use path on Highway 93, and both recycling and bear resistant containers. It also placed conditions on the permit prohibiting internally illuminated neon signs, overnight truck parking, and the operation of a casino in the gas station.