Condos planned for controversial Seventh Street spot

A property near the new Muldown Elementary School that was previously planned for apartment buildings is now poised to be developed with two condominium buildings.

Plans submitted to the City of Whitefish regarding the project call for the construction of two buildings on separate lots containing seven condominium units in buildings two stories in height. One building would face Seventh Street and another would face Eighth Street. Each unit appears to include four bedrooms. Access to the residential buildings is through a shared alleyway between the buildings with each unit including two-car garage and backyard.

Council in January denied a request from the developer to construct 36 apartments in two buildings on the property between Seventh and Eighth streets. The project would have provided seven deed-restricted affordable units under the city’s Legacy Homes Program.

Concerns raised in the months leading up to the Council vote by multiple neighbors of the project included that the project it would increase traffic in an already unsafe area and that it was too dense to fit in with the neighborhood.

Planning Director Dave Taylor said the revised project only needs to obtain a building permit and approval from the city’s architectural review committee to be constructed.

“The buildings are on two separate lots and are designed to be independent from one another. The only thing they share is a private alley for access,” he said. “They are two separate buildings that happen to be next to each other.”

“That’s what the neighborhood said they would rather have is seven units on each lot and that’s what they are going to get,” Taylor added.

The new condominium project is not required to provide any affordable housing units because it does not need a discretionary permit — such as a conditional use permit or planned unit development — to be approved.

Ben Davis, chair of the Whitefish Housing Authority board, last week brought up the project to Council pointing out that the condominium project is a lost opportunity for affordable housing.

“This doesn’t trigger any inclusionary zoning and any public process,” he said. “The ship may have already sailed with this project, but I feel like it’s a loop hole in the regulations.”

The city’s Legacy Homes Program, which went into effect in July 2019, uses inclusionary zoning that requires 20% of all housing for new residential developments requiring a discretionary permit to be deed-restricted as affordable housing.