Industrial zoning will remain on Whitefish tract
A 26-acre undeveloped tract along the railroad east of Whitefish will keep its industrial zoning, Mayor Andy Feury decided Monday.
A master-plan amendment to change the zoning from industrial to urban residential drew a split vote from the City Council; Feury broke the tie.
"I've opposed every master-plan amendment that's come to us," Feury explained. "It comes to us for the profit of an individual or group of individuals, and while it may benefit our community," that's not the reason developers request such amendments.
Desert Mountain Ventures needed the master-plan amendment to proceed with a 77-home subdivision called Arrowhead Ranch on property that was once the site of a post mill and later a tree farm. Two years ago the city OK'd a business park on the site, but that project fizzled.
Landscape architect Bruce Lutz tried to convince the council that the master plan isn't "some holy ordinance" but rather a guideline for growth that needs to change as the community grows. Whitefish needs reasonably priced homes more than it needs industrial development, he maintained.
"The current [industrial] use will drag light industrial [traffic] through residential neighborhoods," Lutz said.
Property owner Tom Klein said his project includes seven lots for affordable housing, at a cost of about $28,000 per lot. He figured the average price on other lots at $69,000. Lots would range from 6,300 to 13,000 square feet and homes would be built with minimum living space of 1,250 square feet.
Desert Mountain Ventures would "build product" on 18 to 30 of the lots, for homes that would cost between $235,000 and $325,000. In Whitefish's hot real-estate market, that price range is considered entry level for new construction.
"If we have to wait another year to a year and a half, I don't know if we could do it" for that price, Klein said.
Another attractive element of the project was a proposed $500,000 pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks.
Several residents testified in favor of the project, including Megan Ortley, who said she's a young professional who moved back to Whitefish 18 months ago and can't find an affordable home to buy.
Kory McGavin, a real-estate broker who grew up in Whitefish, said he hasn't seen any other projects that meet Klein's price point.
Whitefish Housing Authority Director SueAnn Grogan threw her support to the subdivision, too, saying it "meets everything we had hoped for this property."
Council members Erik Garberg, Doug Adams and Mark Wagner saw no problem with granting the master-plan amendment, but the other three councilors, Cris Coughlin, Tom Muri and Velvet Phillips-Sullivan didn't support it.
Phillips-Sullivan said the urban residential zoning seems too dense for that neighborhood, which partially borders agricultural land. And access to rail sidings may become increasingly important as fuel prices rise, she added.
Muri said the subdivision encroaches on important agricultural land.
"It's being gobbled up, and if we extend water and sewer out there, there'll be more subdivision requests," Muri said. "When it comes to rural character, that in itself is an industry and it's being squeezed out."
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com