City again pushes decision to create transitional zoning along Highway 93 South

In a Whitefish City Council meeting last week, the council again chose to postpone a decision on establishing a new transitional business zoning district, WB-T, for the section of Highway 93 just south of Montana 40.

The issue has been a long-standing subject for the council that only affects properties that choose to annex into the city from the county zoning. It has been addressed twice and tabled twice thus far. This time the council wants to revamp the plan to include more housing.

Several councilors suggested the city needs to adjust the allowed uses for the new zone to prioritize housing and smaller commercial businesses. Of the 40 allowed uses in the proposed WB-T zone, some that Councilor Ben Davis is interested in cutting out are hotels, bars and restaurants, car dealerships and mini-storage units.

In the meeting, Councilor Rebecca Norton moved to postpone. She said she appreciates the work Planning Director Dave Taylor and the staff have put into this plan in the last few years and added there is no rush for this decision.

“I’d like to have a work session with the county planning director. I would rather we (pass the zoning district) in a way that feels good to the community,” Norton explained.

Her motion passed 4-1 with Councilor Guiseppe Caltabiano opposing.

Procedural details were then ironed out. Councilor Andy Feury urged the group to continue working on the plan even without the county’s participation because it may take months to schedule time with them.

“I appreciate the effort to get the county to the table but getting together with the county may be very difficult,” Feury said. “I don’t want us sitting on our hands for the next six months waiting to have a meeting with them, though it is important and I think it will help.”

Council agreed to arrange a meeting with the county planning director at the first opportunity. Meanwhile, they scheduled a work session for Monday, March 21, and the WB-T zoning district will be on the agenda again at the City Council meeting in early April.

Deputy Mayor Frank Sweeney, who filled in for Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld at the meeting, suggested giving the staff clear directions for what the council would like to see in the plan prior to the work session.

Councilors Feury, Davis and Steve Qunell said more housing was needed in the plan. Davis reframed the vision, describing small-scale commercial businesses with low to medium density housing behind. He would also like a reduction to the sizes of buildings in the area and remove some of the commercial uses on the list.

Councilor Caltabiano said he believes the city staff did their homework and added, ”I'd like to make clear (this zoning) has no effect until a property owner petitions the city for annexation.”

When it was his turn to share thoughts, Sweeney said, “The idea that a currently zoned commercial property, even if it was permitted use in our zone, the likelihood that they would voluntarily annex to come into this city so they would then have to pay higher city taxes and pay resort tax on top of that is highly suspect.”

Sweeney requested that staff reorder their approach to the new zoning district by prioritizing residential uses and dramatically paring down the number of accepted uses.

“What we should be focusing on is: If we had our druthers and we wanted it in the city, what would it look like?” Sweeney concluded.

During the public comment portion of the night, Mayre Flowers of Citizens for a Better Flathead spoke about the corridor plan. She says the new zoning district the city is proposing provides little change from 2014 when the county rezoned the area along Highway 93 south of Montana 40 for commercial uses.

“It’s almost like we are still stuck in a hypnotic vision that the only thing that can happen on our highway corridors is commercial. I’m urging you… to provide some fresh leadership and show these corridors can become important residential resources,” said Flowers.

Council is due to attempt another vote on the zoning issue on April 4.