Looking Back: A moratorium on land development put to vote
Norm Kurtz, left, shares a laugh with Dale Duff as they sit in Duff's 1927 Cadillac during the 75th anniversary of the Empire Builder at the Whitefish train depot on June 12, 2004. (Lindsey Nelson/Whitefish Pilot)
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
June 13, 1974
A country-wide moratorium on land development in Flathead County might have been decided at the ballot box. Flathead Tomorrow, an organization concerned with water, land and air use in the Flathead Valley, began circulating a petition calling for adoption of a resolution to invoke a country-wide one- to two-year moratorium on major new land development. “The prime motivation for imposing a moratorium is an unfortunate absence of an effective plan for controlling development in the county while the rate of development is very fast both for Montana and nationally,” a statement from the organization said.
40 Years Ago
June 14, 1984
About 40,000 visits per year were expected at the Les Mason Park on Whitefish Lake but whether those visitors would be able to launch motor boats was left to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. That decision would not be based solely on a show of hands or the number of signatures on a petition, parks chief Don Hyyppa told about 60 people at a public meeting on the development and the management of the park. The parks department presented two development plans at the meeting – one with a boat ramp and one without. The parks department recommended the park have no boat ramp, only an area for motor boats to dock. Hyyppa gave several reasons why the department was leaning towards that alternative.
30 Years Ago
June 9, 1994
The developers of Riverside at Whitefish offered to reduce the density from more than 500 units to 48. Developers Ron Holliday and Peter Tracy announced the new plan at a meeting with adjoining landowners and Whitefish residents. The new plan would reduce the density of the 230 acre area more than 90%, Tracy said. The plan would create 40 one-acre parcels in the northern portion of the property, including 15 lots along the Whitefish River, instead of the original 30 lots Tracy had previously proposed.
20 Years Ago
June 10, 2004
A tract of scenic property once eyed for a manufactured housing park, a business park and a new hospital campus was being considered for a 94-unit subdivision called Great Northern Heights. Local developer Rob Pero and a partner doing business as Hilltop Partners, purchased the 29-acre Great Northern Business Park site from Turner Askew, who had tried to develop the property since 1995. “He's paid for it and the check is cleared,” Askew said. “I really thought I could do something that would be good for the city, but city government never embraced it.” Askew and Gary Elliot initially planned to develop the site as a land-lease manufactured housing community
10 Years Ago
June 11, 2014
Owners of the Mountain Mall were looking at the possibility of remodeling its facade even after Whitefish city councilors denied a request to use city funds for the project. "We're taking a strong look and are working hard to see if it's still a possibility,” mall manager Tom Kraus said. Counselors denied a request from Carrington Co., owner of the Mountain Mall, for $400,000 in tax increment funds to make improvements to the mall exterior. According to Krause, the mall has entered into lease agreements to bring in a Shopko Hometown store. However, the agreement is contingent upon the mall getting an exterior facelift.