Planners reject Big Mountain hotel project

Whitefish planners unanimously voted against a proposed 80-unit hotel and conference center on Big Mountain, siding with several resort condominium owners who said the building design is too long and too tall.

"I think we have some fundamental flaws with the design," Whitefish Planning Board member Martin McGrew said. "Aesthetically it's cute, but it's a behemoth."

Winter Sports Inc. wants approval to build Great Bear Inn, a 109,441-square-foot structure on 2 acres where the Bierstube bar and day-skier parking lot are now located. The building would be 425 feet long and three stories high to house a condominium hotel, conference facility, restaurant and spa.

The project also needs a variance to accommodate a height of 65 feet. Current zoning allows a maximum of 45 feet, but the two newest buildings in the village area both exceed 45 feet. Kintla Lodge was built to 65 feet and Morning Eagle Lodge is 75 feet high.

The planning board recommended that the Whitefish City Council deny the Big Mountain project. The council has the final say and is scheduled to hear the proposal Oct. 17. The Whitefish planning staff had recommended approval.

Winter Sports Chief Executive Officer Fred Jones said he and those involved with the design work will rethink the project over the next month. Jones said he knew a major campaign was under way by condominium owners to defeat the project.

Big Mountain Development Corp., the development arm of Winter Sports, attempted to address the concerns from Kintla and Morning Eagle condominium owners about the loss of views and the size of the building.

"In an effort to address those concerns, the hotel kept getting smaller and smaller," Jones said. "It has to be viable, with a certain number of rooms. It was getting pretty marginal as it was."

The 1990 master plan for the village area called for a 100-unit hotel.

"The reason we're focusing on a hotel is that it's a key element of the village," Jones told the planning board. "It's a key piece in finishing this part of the village."

Kintla and Morning Eagle unit owners said they generally don't disagree with the idea of a hotel/conference center on the mountain; they just don't want it in their front yard and they don't want it to block their view of the Flathead Valley.

"We think WSI has an institutional responsibility to maintain the view corridors," said Bob Hutnik, the architect for Kintla Lodge who now lives at Kintla. "This [hotel] is 425 long, three stories tall and 100 feet from my front door. It will put darkness and shadows on the street."

Hutnik and Craig Panos, president of the Morning Eagle Homeowners Association, made a dramatic pitch to the planning board, rolling out a drawing that stretched across the room to illustrate the length of the proposed hotel.

Jones said afterward the drawing misrepresented the building because it was one-dimensional and didn't show the variations in design used to break up the bulk of the building.

"It was dramatic and effective, but not accurate," Jones said.

Jones noted that when Morning Eagle and Kintla units were sold, buyers were "put on notice" that Big Mountain's village area was subject to further development.

Jim Rothwell, an architect and Morning Eagle unit owner, said he and other resort property owners tried to work in good faith with Winter Sports, but were frustrated because the corporation made "no attempt to manage viewsheds.

"Not one of us who bought into Kintla and Morning Eagle felt something was going to be built right in front of them," Rothwell said.

The design of Great Bear Inn, referred to as "parkitecture" throughout the hearing to describe the national-park-lodge look of the building, is fine, but the scale is wrong, Rothwell stated.

John Constenius, a Whitefish architect and avid skier, said he also sees design problems.

"It pinches off in front of Kintla and creates a canyon that will be pedestrian-unfriendly," Constenius said.

Several of the testifying architects acknowledged the difficulty in building on the resort's benched terrain.

Edelweiss Homeowners Association President Sandy Christensen also testified at the hearing, saying her constituents' greatest concern is preserving parking. Edelweiss residents enjoyed free parking for 15 years but began paying parking fees "under protest" five years ago, she said.

Fire access is another concern, Christensen said.

Jones said the Big Mountain Fire Department has reviewed the hotel plans and is satisfied with the access.

"Exterior design features allow the fire department to ladder up" to balconies, he said.

Jones said he wasn't surprised at the planning board's decision, but was concerned that board members didn't provide more direction about what they want changed in the project.

"We've got to improve the process with the planning board, so it's more interactive, so we can work through things," Jones said.

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