Guest-house rules get makeover at busy Whitefish planning meeting

The Daily Inter Lake

Regulations for guest houses in Whitefish are getting a makeover, and planners will vote on proposed changes on Thursday.

The major change proposed is that guest houses would no longer be allowed to be rented out like accessory apartments, Whitefish Planning Director Bob Horne said. That was the case prior to 2001 when the code was changed to allow rental of guest houses in the interest of providing more affordable housing.

"The 2001 amendment was well-intentioned, but it rippled all through the code in some strange ways," Horne said. "For example, some residential zones that allowed guest houses but not accessory apartments all of a sudden allowed a large extra rental unit instead of a small one."

Another proposed change involves banning guest houses on lots smaller than 10,000 square feet or on lots that are substandard with regard to lot size or width.

Side and rear setback standards for accessory buildings would go from 3 feet to 6 feet regardless of whether there is a living unit in the building. Only accessory buildings exceeding 600 square feet would have to meet primary structure setbacks, Horne said.

The proposed amendments are available online at www.whitefish.govoffice.com. Once the planning board acts on the changes, they will go to the City Council for final approval.

The Whitefish City-County Planning Board meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at Whitefish City Hall. The public hearing on the new guest-house rules is No. 4 on a list of nine public hearings for the night.

Among the other key hearings on the agenda is the zoning plan for the Montana 40 area, which is first on the agenda, and the controversial Boardwalk at Whitefish Lake project off Wisconsin Avenue, which is last on the hearing agenda.