Variance may decide long-running mural battle
The fight over an ice-cream-cone sign may be over tonight as the Whitefish City Council considers a variance to allow Mrs. Spoonover’s restaurant to keep its beloved mural.
In July, Mrs. Spoonover’s owners Joel and Judy Scallen won their lawsuit to keep the colorful sign on the side of their downtown restaurant.
Flathead County District Judge Katherine Curtis granted the Scallens’ petition to vacate a 2008 Whitefish Board of Adjustment decision that upheld a city zoning administrator ruling to remove the mural or have it permitted as a sign.
Curtis said the board and Whitefish Zoning Administrator David Taylor failed to apply Whitefish sign laws in a reasonable, consistent and non-discriminatory fashion.
Now the Scallens’ request for a sign variance may be the final step in settling the matter.
The council will hold a public hearing before considering the sign variance.
The mural, which depicts an ice-cream cone, teapot, doughnut and a cup of soup — all foods served at Mrs. Spoonover’s — became an emotionally charged issue in the resort community after the city ordered the Scallens to remove the mural because it was an advertising device that needed a sign permit.
Murals are allowed under Whitefish sign laws, but if they advertise products sold at a business, they’re considered part of the allowed sign space, the city argued.
Mrs. Spoonover’s already had used all of its sign space. The mural is 38.54 square feet, but the small restaurant, with just 25 feet of lineal frontage, is allowed a total of only 10 square feet of signs.
In her ruling, Curtis acknowledged that the mural in question is used for advertising and thereby constitutes a sign. But it’s the lack of consistency in how the city has administered its sign laws that makes the Mrs. Spoonover’s case discriminatory, the judge said.
The council has a full agenda for its only meeting in December. Four other public hearings are scheduled:
• Consideration of a 30-year lease with Whitefish Lake Golf Club, with an option to renew the lease for 20 years to operate the golf course.
• A request by the city of Whitefish to amend zoning regulations to allow for microbreweries in Whitefish business and industrial zoning districts with a conditional-use permit.
• Revisions of subdivision regulations to provide relief to developers with an approved preliminary or final plat set to expire either this year or in 2011.
• Zoning text amendments creating a mandatory zoning compliance permit for new commercial uses and additions. Single-family residential uses are exempt.
The council will meet with applicants for the library board of trustees from 4 to 5 p.m.. After that, interviews will be held with applicants for numerous other board and committee vacancies.
The regular meeting begins at 7:10 p.m.; all sessions are held at Whitefish City Hall.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.