Housing a proposed addition to new zoning on Hwy 93

The Whitefish City Council’s focus during a work session last week was housing as it continued to devise an acceptable version of the new WB-T Business Transitional District for Highway 93 south of Montana 40.

Adding housing options and slashing several conditional uses were discussed as the major changes to the proposed zone. Whitefish Planning Director Dave Taylor explained reworking the plan involved removing some commercial uses, tightening the language and altering it to encourage residential uses which are not allowed under the current B-4 county zoning.

The new zoning would affect the area south of Highway 93 known as the ‘gateway to Whitefish’ in the city’s recently adopted Highway 93 South Corridor Plan. The plan calls for the creation of the zoning district for newly annexed properties in the area.

During its last meeting in early March, council made suggestions to staff regarding changes to the list of uses. Every councilor wanted to see more housing and two were adamantly opposed to mini-storage units. The revised plan cuts storage units from the list of uses and allows several forms of residential uses.

Taylor said it is not best practice to have high-density housing far from services thereby limiting the walkability of the area, but there is potential for residential on some of the properties.

Councilors Andy Feury and Ben Davis said they would like to encourage commercial development and housing together within the corridor. Feury said he can see reasons for keeping commercial uses in the plan.

“For a lot of people, the commercial component may be the driver that would spur them on to do the residential in the back. The two are not mutually exclusive,” he said.

Other uses cut from the list are auto service stations, bars, lounges, hotels, motels and auto and boat rentals, parts and repair. The staff report states that due to highway speeds and traffic, commercial developments that generate relatively high daily traffic should be discouraged.

According to Taylor, trying to get frontage roads and consolidate accesses is a critical aspect of this zoning because of the high volume of vehicular traffic. The state determines the need and placement of traffic lights and other highway changes.

When the discussion was picked up again at the end of the regular council meeting, Feury expressed a new way of looking at the zoning. He suggested that large-scale commercial development will not want to annex because they don’t require services and don't want to pay city taxes but other types of businesses would potentially make sense.

“Maybe we (allow) ancillary activities that would support residential neighborhoods. Maybe we only look at daycare, coffee shops, the things people would walk or ride their bike to out in those areas,” said Feury.

Councilor Frank Sweeney and Councilor Davis agreed with Feury, and Davis voiced his concern for high numbers of vehicles wanting to turn left on the highway. He says having a plan for transportation is key.

Flathead County Planning and Zoning Director Erik Mack was in attendance at the work session to field questions from the councilors. When Councilor Rebecca Norton asked how to get county to enforce the zoning regulations, Mack replied that filing a complaint is the best thing to do.

“We just got approved for a second full time code compliance officer so hopefully sometime we can get that position filled and do a better job on our enforcement,” Mack said.

The council will resume discussing the zoning district on April 4.