City considers suspending new development

Drainage woes prompt plan for moratorium

Whitefish city officials have proposed a moratorium on new development for as long as six months in sensitive drainage areas while a master utility plan is completed.

The City Council will decide July 18 whether to pass an emergency zoning ordinance that would suspend for 30 days the processing and approval of most development applications with the city and within a mile of city limits, according to a letter City Attorney John Phelps sent to developers and affected residents.

The reason staff has proposed such an interim ordinance is that the city is receiving applications for development of land that is flat, poorly drained, with silty clay soils and for which there is no adequate drainage, Phelps wrote.

This year, city workers have responded to dozens of complaints and concerns about storm-water runoff patterns

being altered by new development, standing water in road ditches, flooded crawl spaces and basements leaking in new homes.

The moratorium initially would apply to all lands within Whitefish and a mile outside city limits, but provisions exist to exempt properties served by a viable city storm drain, those in areas with an approved drainage plans and other properties with clear drainage solutions.

Whitefish Planning Director Bob Horne said developers who think they re exempt from the interim ordinance would have a chance to make their cases with city staff.

We may be able to exempt some of them almost immediately, Horne said.

If approved, the moratorium would give the city 30 days to identify areas with drainage problems. In those sensitive areas, residential, commercial and industrial development, conditional-use permits, planned-unit developments and condominium projects would continue on hold for as long as six months while a utility plan is completed.

Building permits for homes on unplatted lots also may be affected.

Last year, the city contracted with Helena-based Anderson-Montgomery Consulting Engineers to prepare a comprehensive storm-drain master plan for Whitefish. The plan should be finished by early October.

The temporary measure would not affect completed subdivisions or those that have received final approval. Developments with final approval and existing construction projects wouldn t be affected, Phelps said.

Since the early days of this community, the city and developers have worked around marshy areas, filled low spots and built drainage ditches to prepare the way for new roads and buildings, city officials said in a news release. Many of the easily drained areas were developed into residential or commercial neighborhoods, while some of the wettest, low-lying sites were passed over and accepted as part of the landscape. Now, the scarcity of vacant lots and rising land costs are leading some developers to consider properties which were once thought to be no more than marshy bogs.

The Texas Avenue corridor, a high-growth area with several subdivisions on the drawing board, historically has been plagued with drainage problems.

When I was a kid, this whole area was swamp. It still is, but with the drought it hasn t been as obvious, said Shirley Jacobson, who has lived on the north end of Texas Avenue most of her life.

Jacobson said her home is the highest point on Texas Avenue.

New residential subdivisions have encroached on wetland areas during the past few dry years, but long-timers such as Jacobson say property owners will be affected negatively when precipitation reaches typical levels again. According to the National Weather Service, the Flathead Valley still has a 20-inch deficit from the drought.

Other drainage trouble spots for Whitefish are the Monegan Road area near the Whitefish River and State Park Road, where infrastructure is a problem, Horne said.

In all of these areas, it s not just high groundwater, it s not just hydric soils, it s not just infrastructure, Horne said. It s one thing here, one thing there. That s why we believe it s best to study it for 30 days.

The last time a moratorium put growth on hold in Whitefish was during 1995, when the state ordered a ban on all new sewer hookups until the city corrected deficiencies in its wastewater-treatment system and put a maintenance program into effect.

A public hearing on the interim zoning ordinance will be held at 7:10 p.m. July 18 at Whitefish City Hall.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.