Whitefish planners resume resort hearing
Board on Thursday will consider Big Mountain master plan
The Daily Inter Lake
The Whitefish City-County Planning Board on Thursday will complete its public hearing on a new master plan for Big Mountain and issue a recommendation on the plan.
The hearing began April 20 but was continued to allow Winter Sports Inc., operator of Big Mountain, to supply additional information requested by the Planning Board.
One area of concern was two pods of development planned alongside Chair 3.
In response to questions from homeowners about how that development would affect their ski-in/ski-out abilities, Winter Sports has removed that proposal from its neighborhood plan but will continue to study it.
Other issues that will be discussed include parking for Alpenglow Inn and Edelweiss, zoning for the area known as Subdivision No. 1, wildlife, traffic and building height.
The heart of the newest plan is a retail and lodging plaza at the bottom of Chair 1. Instead of concentrating lodging into one big resort hotel and convention center, the new plan breaks up the hotel offerings into about 10 buildings, most of which would be in the current parking lots below the village area.
Chair 2 would be rebuilt east of its current alignment so it would connect with the plaza.
If approved by the Whitefish City Council, the Big Mountain master plan will become an amendment to the Whitefish growth policy that's currently being drafted. The council will hold a hearing on the plan June 19.
Other Planning Board business includes:
-A request by Ward and Steven Clark for approval of Clark Subdivision, a two-lot development on 4.69 acres on the west side of Wisconsin Avenue, across from Mountain Trails Park.
-A public hearing for a proposed zone change from county one-family residential to city one-family residential on property at 1428 W. Lakeshore Drive.
-The city of Whitefish wants to adopt an outdoor lighting ordinance by repealing an existing law and replacing it with new regulations that will establish standards for residential, commercial and industrial exterior lighting.
-A request from Ole and Shirley Netteberg for a conditional-use permit to construct an outbuilding to be used for home occupation at 5491 U.S. 93 S.
-A public hearing for various amendments to Whitefish lakeshore protection regulations.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at Whitefish City Hall.