Council briefs: Business registration program, lakeshore protections among public hearings

The Whitefish City Council addressed two resolutions regarding fees and an ordinance about Lakeshore Protection regulations after Mayor John Muhlfeld and three council members took their oaths of office at the Dec. 4 regular council meeting.

Maria Butts, Director of Parks and Recreation, proposed an increase of the City Beach vending fees for the Fourth of July event from $75 to $150.

According to the staff report, thousands of people attend the July 4th event at City Beach which features about seven vendors who set up on the beach to sell food and drinks prior to the fireworks display.

The current rate of $75 has not been changed in more than a decade. 

Staff researched comparable events in other cities and the fees charged. They found that towns like Missoula, Hamilton and Livingston charge a higher rate as well as a percentage of sales.

“There are many communities that charge a percentage of sales, but staff is recommending we stay with a set fee but increase that to $150 per vendor,” Butts said in her report. “The percentage of sales are more common in recurring events, like farmers markets.”

Butts said the Park Board of Commissioners unanimously recommended approval of the proposed fee at its Nov. 14 meeting. The city council voted unanimously to approve the fee increase.

At its Nov. 20 meeting, the Whitefish City Council approved an ordinance amending the city’s business licensing requirement to reflect the new business registration program.

The change passed the second reading at the Dec. 4 city council meeting and later, the council approved with a vote of 5-0 implementation of the business registration fees.

The purpose of the new program is to promote public safety and help the city’s efforts to ensure compliance with other city ordinances and regulations. The fees assessed are used to recover costs only, so the city prepared a cost of service study.

The new registration fees are the same as the former business license fees. Only two changes were made: a new fire inspection no-show fee was added and a one-time application fee for short-term rentals was eliminated.

“We have experienced numerous situations in which businesses, primarily short-term rentals,  will schedule a fire safety inspection, our fire marshall will go to meet them at the business location and nobody will show up, and so they have no access to the facility,” Whitefish City Manager Dana Smith said. 

She said that is a waste of city resources and staff time. Another appointment is then required so the business will be in compliance with city standards. The annual business registration fee includes one, on-site inspection only, so the no-show fee is needed to cover those costs.

The new fire inspection no-show fee is $55 per occurrence.

The city also found that managing the one-time $50 application fee for short-term rentals should be done away with. 

“The cost to the city on a revenue basis and support of ongoing services is minimal since … the 350 [short-term rentals] we already have registered, they’ve already paid it once,” Smith said. “They don’t pay it again upon renewal and so there’s a minimal impact from that.”

The council also unanimously approved multiple amendments to the Lake and Lakeshore Protection Regulations.

Whitefish City Planner David Taylor said the changes were needed to promote natural shoreline restoration and dynamic gravel beach installations over rip rap and retaining walls. 

“We’ve put together a major revision of our lakeshore protection regulations,” said Taylor. “They were last updated in about 2009. Since that time, we have some better science about how to address shoreline erosion.”

He said the old ways of doing things, including the use of rip rap and retraining walls which scour the beach, reduce biodiversity and are not healthy for the lake.

The city is changing its mode of regulations to encourage bioengineering and soft structure armoring for erosion control.

City staff worked with Dr. Mark Lorang from the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station and Mike Koopal and the Whitefish Lake Institute who reviewed the changes to the regulations and supplied suggestions.

One change to the regulations was to make it easier for a citizen to find out what kind of permit was needed for the project at hand. Definitions of new terms like bioengineering and dynamic gravel beaches were also added.

“As far as public and private boat ramps, we added a requirement that they have aquatic invasive species inspections. This might raise some issues with some of the private boat ramps," Taylor said. “Even if it’s not something that is easily attainable, it’s something very necessary for the lake, that we protect it.”

The staff report said that at the planning board’s public hearing, Kurt Vomfell, landscape architect from Terra Designworks, gave a presentation and answered questions about dynamic

gravel beach applications on Whitefish Lake and how they have withstood time.

Taylor presented several slides of the lakeshore designs that showed some improvements that were done with newer technical elements.

“The staff did a wonderful job of revising what were probably years-old regulations and bringing them up to date,” said Toby Scott, Whitefish Planning Board representative and chairman of the Lakeshore Protection Committee. “I urge you to vote in favor of these.”

Before the hearings, Michelle Howke, Whitefish City Clerk, swore in Mayor John Muhlfeld who will serve his third term. Muhlfeld then swore in Councilors Rebecca Norton, Steve Qunell and Frank Sweeney who each won their reelection bid this fall.