Whitefish considers revised capital plan

Slope discussion back on council agenda

The Daily Inter Lake

Facing public criticism and misunderstanding about a recently adopted $73.4 million capital improvement plan, the Whitefish City Council today will consider a revised version of the plan.

The updated improvement plan includes new revenue from impact fees that will be applied to capital projects and aims to clarify a misunderstanding that the city intends to spend $73.2 million in the next five years.

City Manager Gary Marks said the plan actually envisions projects totaling $43.8 million over five years. The $73.2 million figure is a cumulative total of all projects envisioned over the next 25 years.

THE COUNCIL resumes discussion of another controversial issue - a proposed resolution that reaffirms city policy on steep-slope construction as it relates to a temporary stormwater ordinance passed for critical drainage areas in Whitefish.

Last month a group of 20 citizens waited until past midnight while the council held a closed session to discuss the proposal. The council tabled the matter before citizens were able to comment.

Slope construction has become a hot-button side effect of the interim measure, which restricts construction on slopes greater than 30 percent.

William and Theodora Walton sued the city when they were denied a reasonable-use exemption to build on a 45-degree slope.

The jury decided the Waltons' right to equal protection of the law had been violated because Bob Horne, then the zoning administrator, had granted Grouse Mountain Estates developer Greg Carter reasonable-use exemptions for a dozen lots with slopes up to 40 percent.

At the trial, Carter testified he believed the exemptions granted by Horne would allow building anywhere on the lots.

The city disagreed, maintaining the interim ordinance didn't empower the zoning administrator to grant a reasonable-use exemption allowing construction on slopes exceeding 30 percent when reasonable flatter building space is available on the lot.

The resolution before the council today is a revised, more innocuous version of the original proposal considered by the council in July.

IN OTHER business, the council has two public hearings on the agenda for amended plats on Lion Mountain and in Baker Commons.

The council will consider extending ice-rink hours and will vote on a resolution that will limit land-use presentations to 30 minutes during public hearings.

The meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall.