Council discusses Safe Streets grant; open container ordinance

The Whitefish City Council heard an update on the Safe Streets for All grant and discussed the city’s open container ordinance at a work session last week. 

Public Works Director Craig Workman said the city applied for the federal, Safe Streets for All grant in September 2022 and was awarded $160,000 with the city matching $40,000. 

Kerry Lynch and Sarah Nicolai with RPA, the engineering firm hired to help with the safety plan, have been working on it for the past year.  

“The department of transportation has always been mainly focused on vehicles at the federal level but they’ve been changing,” said Lynch. “They’ve added a focus to multi modal transportation, more biking and walking, and encouraging communities to make improvements so it's safe for people to get around.” 

Lynch said the plan is for the entire city limits and a task force, which includes the department of transportation, Mayor John Muhlfeld, Police Chief Bridger Kelch and others, has been working on it.  

Workman said there are four components to the action plan: Leadership commitment, planning structure, planning process inputs and outcomes.  

He said equity considerations are a big part of this federal grant. 

“Making sure we are paying attention, not only modes of transportation, but all types of system users,” Workman said. “Everyone, from a typical bicycle and pedestrian, to somebody with special needs who may be in a wheelchair.” 

Nicolai said they are 2/3 the way through the planning process and that her team would be back in January to tell the council about the data they’ve been analyzing. 

“Data from the Whitefish Police Department, as well as the Montana Department of Transportation, that’s more on the quantitative side,” Nicolai said. “On the qualitative side, we’ve been gathering a lot of input from the community.” 

The city has hosted several open houses to get community input, Lynch has been on the streets talking to people and there was a website to collect input. 

Nicolai said the study is at the stage where they begin to identify improvement ideas. 

Part of the data she shared was about motor vehicle accidents in Whitefish and the severity of those accidents. Between 2018 and 2023, 1,109 people were involved in 530 crashes. 

Nicolai said the goal is to have zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2030. To that end, RPA is looking at intersection crosses, inattentive drivers and traffic calming devices to limit speeds and speed related accidents. 

A DISCUSSION with Chief Kelch regarding open container laws was spurred, in part, by recent requests for block parties.  

He explained the city is able to lift the open container ordinance in certain areas or during special events as long as the event is not selling adult beverages. 

City Manager Dana Smith said the Winter Carnival organizers have asked to have no alcoholic beverages in their permit.  

“I think it’s important to think about a few things when it comes to alcohol,” Smith said. “Does it change the event from a family event to one that becomes an alcohol party?”  

She noted there is a time frame issue that would require a clear ending to the event and the ability to have alcohol in the streets. She said that becomes an enforcement issue for the police. 

“There are definitely challenges with [lifting the ordinance] for an event,” Smith said. “[The alcohol] has to stay within the event area. While it would be fun, is it the right step?” 

Kelch said lifting the ordinance for a block party, as long it was isolated to a block or two, would be more manageable than lifting the ban for special events. Smith added that block parties would have to be blocked off for safety reasons. 

“I think our request is from those few events that people have that are fairly local, not like Winter Carnival or Oktoberfest,” Deputy Mayor Frank Sweeney said. “It is neighbor and friends to the area. Those are different in scale.” 

Kelch said the city has lifted the open container ordinance for block parties in the past and when organizers do what they say they will do, it goes well.  

“When they continually do not, they don’t go very well and I think that was what brought the end of those events,” Kelch added.