Planning board looks at Highway 93 corridor plan; request for changes to 95 Karrow project
The Whitefish Planning Board has a packed agenda for its Thursday meeting with 10 public hearings scheduled.
The planning board meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
A major part of planning for the future of Whitefish, the board will consider the Highway 93 South Corridor Plan. The long-range plan, an amendment to the city’s growth policy, looks at how the corridor will grow over the next 10 years in terms of land use, transportation, environment and open space. The plan includes goals, objectives and implementation items for the corridor.
The boundary for the plan extends from the edges of downtown at Sixth Street on Baker Avenue and Spokane Avenue to 2 miles south of Montana 40.
The plan divides the corridor into three distinct segments with a vision for each segment and setting goals to achieve that vision.
Returning for an amendment to a previously approved preliminary plat, 95 Karrow LLC is looking to add more housing, reduce commercial space, reconfigure the footprint of its marketplace building and relocate the planned microbrewery for the property located at 95 Karrow Ave. Located on the former Idaho Timber property, the site was previously approved for a planned unit development in 2018.
As part of the proposed changes, there is set to be one less building on the site with a total of 84 residential units and the previously proposed commercial uses would be reduced by more than 50%.
The “applicants are adjusting the project to adapt to market changes and the established need for additional residential units locally and to add viabliity to the mixed-use development,” the planning staff report notes.
Two requests from 406 Standard LLC are on the agenda for a property located at 1625 Highway 93. The property is on the south side of Highway 93 just past the intersection with Lion Mountain Loop Road.
The developer is requesting a growth policy map amendment to change the land use designation from suburban residential to resort residential for the property currently developed with a single-family residence and zoned one-family residential district.
Subsequently, 406 Standard is requesting a conditional use permit in order to develop a six detached single-family condominium project. The current single-family home on the property would be removed.
Before the planning board will be amendments to the city’s subdivision regulations based upon recent state legislative changes to the Montana Subdivision and Platting Act, recent City Council policy actions and a number of housekeeping items.
Two major lakeshore variance requests are on the agenda.
Al Marco is requesting a lakeshore variance for the removal of a non-compliant seawall below the high water mark at 235 Glenwood Road.
Chris Ellis is requesting a lakeshore variance for the removal of a non-compliant seawall below the high water mark at 245 Glenwood Road.
Requests for conditional use permits for two separate accessory apartments are also on the agenda.
Beene Smyley is requesting a CUP for an accessory apartment above a new garage at 304 Columbia Ave.
Paige MacDonald is requesting a CUP for an accessory apartment above a new garage at 950 Edgewood Place.
Four individuals are requesting a preliminary plat to subdivide a vacant property into two lots at 504 Dakota Ave. The property is zoned medium density resort residential.