Decision stalls on boardwalk project

Planners tabled a decision on the revamped, scaled-down Boardwalk at Whitefish Lake project Friday morning following a grueling three-hour hearing that ended just before 1 a.m.

A visibly exhausted Whitefish City-County Planning Board, weary from two earlier lengthy public hearings, considered shutting the meeting down about midnight at the developer's suggestion, but forged on after several people in the audience indicated they wanted to testify.

The board will make a final recommendation on the project at its Dec. 15 meeting, which will push City Council consideration into January, when three new council members come on board.

A long list of consultants stepped through various aspects of the resort project. Boardwalk's density has been trimmed by more than a third, from 161 to 104 units, off Wisconsin Avenue east of Whitefish Lake Lodge. A proposed lodge complex on the lakefront portion of the property also has been scaled down by about 20,000 square feet.

Drainage and wetlands protection remain the crucial elements of the project.

Developer Bayard Dominick said wetlands disturbance has been reduced from 2.8 acres to less than half an acre, and he had his consultants explain a proposed water filtration system and streambed restoration projects that would better channel water into Whitefish Lake.

Hired consultant Barry Dutton of Land & Water Consultant said that while the site has some real challenges, it doesn't have a "fatal flaw" when it comes to hydrology.

"I've never seen a developer make such a radical change to reduce the wetlands impact," Dutton testified as he explained how the developer would get "enhancement credit" for the planned creek restoration.

Neither the planning board nor the audience seemed to buy Dutton's analysis.

Board members Dennis Bee and Martin McGrew questioned Dutton's confidence in saying hydrology can be managed.

The city planning office declined to make a recommendation on the project.

Planner Wendy Compton-Ring pointed to problems with the developer's proposed parking allotment. Minimum parking requirements on the west side of Wisconsin Avenue are 143 to 169 spaces, while Dominick has proposed only 53. On the east side, the city requires 140 spaces, but Dominick maintains he can provide 316 spaces to compensate for the lack of lakeside parking.

That's not a typical scenario, Compton-Ring said.

The planning office also found fault with the mass and scale of the proposed Lakeside Lodge, saying it's not in line with the neighborhood. The adjacent Lodge at Whitefish Lake, however, has a height of 55 feet, the same height proposed for Lakeside Lodge. Dominick said his lodge would sit about 10 feet lower than the neighboring lodge because he won't add fill to the site.

Jim Stack, chairman of the Whitefish Lakeshore Protection Committee, reiterated three problems he sees: potential lake pollution from surface runoff, a marina proposed in one of the lake's shallowest spots and the pyramiding effect of so many homeowners using the 260 feet of lake access.

Lavonna Bowers read a statement from neighboring property owner Margaret Murdock, whose land on the north and east has conservation easements. Murdock said she approves of the developer's restoration plans for the creekbeds, but doesn't believe the Boardwalk property should be developed.

In a telephone call to the Daily Inter Lake, Murdock said Dominick wrongly assumed she was interested in having him extend creek restoration onto her property.

"I have my own water consultants and I'll take care of my own creek work," Murdock said.

While she acknowledged the revamped Boardwalk design is a "great improvement" over the original plan, she also stressed, "It's a piece of real estate that should be left natural."

The addition of fill dirt on the Boardwalk property has caused water to back up on her property, she said.

"I haven't been able to get on my property for two years" because it's been so wet, Murdock said.

Flathead Audubon representative Neal Brown urged the board to deny the project and pass a resolution that the city acquire the property and retain it as open space. Other audience members agreed the city should buy the property to keep it from being developed because it's such an integral part of the drainage from Big Mountain and surrounding neighborhoods into Whitefish Lake.

Geoffrey Kline, president of the Wildwood Homeowners Association for the neighboring Wildwood Condominiums, cautioned the board to proceed slowly and study the project thoroughly.

"Consultants come to these hearings and tell you everything you want to hear," Kline said. "Seldom does it [the project] resemble what they said at the end."

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