Wetlands project applauded

The Viking Creek wetlands preservation project cleared a crucial hurdle on Thursday, winning resounding support from the Whitefish City-County Planning Board.

"There were huge kudos from everybody," senior city planner Wendy Compton-Ring said.

Located off Wisconsin Avenue in a crucial drainage area for Whitefish Lake, the property has been contemplated for development for nearly two decades. The latest proposal follows in the wake of the controversial Boardwalk project shot down by both the Planning Board and City Council.

Current property owners Dan Averill and sons Sean and Brian, partners in The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, purchased the wetlands property and plan to subdivide 8.8 of the 39.2 acres into 21 lots, including 17 single-family lots and a 40,000-square-foot hotel/spa.

The centerpiece and major selling point of the project is a 30-acre wetlands set-aside. The Averills will give 30 acres to the Whitefish Lake Institute for a conservation preserve and study area.

"This is one of the most positive things to come to Whitefish in a long, long time," Bill Leonard, general manager of the Whitefish County Water and Sewer District, said after the meeting. "I'm excited about the large wetland they're deeding over, and the development is well-planned."

Friends of Wisconsin Wetlands, a nonprofit group formed more than a year ago as the Boardwalk project was working its way through the planning process, also supported the Averills' plan.

"Over six months of give and take have resulted in a plan that both sides feel is financially doable and environmentally responsible," wetlands group spokesman Joe Malletta said in written testimony.

Leonard alluded to the property's troubled past, saying "it's done a 360."

"The Averill family is stepping up and is generously helping us solve the [drainage] problem," Leonard said. "They're making things right, and hopefully this puts to an end a long-existing problem."

DAN AVERILL owned the property in the early 1990s and planned to develop the eastside property with a mix of commercial and residential units. He eventually pulled his application amid public concerns about wetlands development and wildlife habitat.

In 2001, Averill sold the property to Hines, the resort development company that planned a $300 million buildout of Big Mountain's village area but pulled out of that project a couple of years ago.

Bayard Dominick and Bob Bowden bought the property from Hines when the resort corporation left Whitefish. They proposed Boardwalk, which initially called for 167 units with development on both sides of Wisconsin Avenue. It later was scaled back to 104 units.

Wetlands advocates argued Boardwalk was too big, too dense and too intrusive to a critical drainage corridor for Whitefish Lake.

Zoning on the property has been a sticking point for past projects. Current zoning would allow 850 dwelling units, but planners and developers both have acknowledged the difficulties of that kind of density on an area that contains crucial wetlands.

Leonard said adjoining property owner Margaret Murdock should be credited for her leadership role in preserving wetlands in that area. Her property was put into a conservation easement many years ago.

In an e-mail to the planning board, Murdock said she remains opposed to development on the Viking Creek property because it would interfere with stormwater run-off.

"If you do approve this plan, be sure to keep the streams open and flowing freely at all times," Murdock wrote.

Whitefish Lake Institute Executive Director Mike Koopal said the institute will consider placing the property in a conservation easement managed by a land trust.

The Averills have pledged $110,000 toward wetlands restoration.

The City Council is slated to hold a public hearing July 16 on the Viking Creek project.

IN OTHER business, the planning board:

. Approved a request by Coldwater Properties to subdivide 27 acres into 50 lots along Big Mountain road, north of the intersection with East Lakeshore Drive.

. Continued a public hearing on O'Brien Bluffs, a project that subdivides 12 acres into 38 single-family lots on the west side of O'Brien Avenue south of 10th Street. The Park Board earlier asked the developer to redesign the project's park acreage.

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