Whitefish Christian Academy requests to make temporary classrooms permanent

Headlining the Whitefish Planning Board agenda this month is a request by the Whitefish Christian Academy to allow for temporary buildings on the school’s property to become permanent.

The buildings located on the west side of the main school building on Ashar Avenue are used to house classrooms. The academy is seeking a conditional use permit for the change.

The planning board meets at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16 at City Hall.

City Council in 2014 approved the use of the two temporary buildings by the academy for up to four years as the academy planned to rebuild in a new location outside of Whitefish. The buildings were placed on the property and the school began using them in fall of 2015.

City Council in 2019 approved a second CUP for the academy to expand its school building at its existing location on Ashar Avenue and that also included an additional two years of using the temporary classroom buildings.

At this point, the CUP has expired and the school can either remove the buildings or make them permanent. The school opted to submit a new CUP to make the classroom buildings permanent as they’ve scaled back their expansion plans.

If the buildings can be brought up to city building code, the planning report notes, then planning staff would be comfortable with the request.

Also on the agenda are two requests for conditional use permits.

Joy Keuylian is seeking a CUP to construct a guest house at 465 Armory Road. The property already includes a single-family home.

Laurany Gergen is seeking a CUP to construct an accessory apartment over a new garage at 424 Somers Avenue. The property already contains a single-family home.

All of the items are set to go before City Council on Jan. 3.