Whitefish townsfolk: City Hall should stay

The majority of people at a town meeting Thursday to study site options for a new City Hall in Whitefish believe a new facility should be rebuilt on the current City Hall site.

City officials passed out interactive electronic response cards to the audience before the meeting began, allowing people to cast their votes and see instant tabulations on a large video screen for each of five possible sites.

More than two-thirds of the 65 people at the meeting favored keeping the City Hall site at the northeast corner of Baker Avenue and Second Street.

A site north of the Whitefish library near the train depot was second in popularity, and property on Baker Avenue where Calvary Church and the Professional Services Building are located was the third choice.

The least preferred sites were Block 46 along Spokane Avenue (across from Third Street Market) and the Mountain West Bank building farther south on Spokane Avenue.

Led by Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns, the audience took a methodical approach of listing the attributes and detriments for each site.

The current City Hall, built in 1917 from “soft” bricks, has no structural stability for earthquakes and has outlived its usefulness, Stearns said.

The city added the former Whitefish Credit Union and another building adjacent to the City Hall complex for office space several years ago.

Even so, the facility is too small to accommodate the planning and building and parks and recreation departments, which now are housed at the former Park Side Federal Credit Union building at Depot Park. The fire and police departments, along with the municipal court, were relocated last year to the new Emergency Services Center on Baker Avenue.

If the City Council ultimately decides the current City Hall site is the best option, a new building likely would be constructed on the north end of the half block the city owns. Anticipating future needs, the city recently purchased the Coldwell Banker building using $750,000 in tax increment finance revenue.

Stearns said construction on that site probably would be done in a phased scenario, allowing city employees to stay onsite throughout the construction.

A wider turning radius is needed for westbound traffic turning north onto Baker Avenue, and building farther back on the site would accommodate that, Stearns said.

Among the attributes listed for the current City Hall site were the fact that the property already is paid for; it’s centrally located and highly visible; the public is accustomed to City Hall at that location; and the city can build to suit. There’s also the possibility for a parking structure on that site.

Whitefish resident John Kramer pointed out the historical significance of that site, which has been City Hall for close to a century. He added as an analogy that if Paris had to rebuild the Eiffel Tower it wouldn’t change the famous tower’s location.

Building a new City Hall has been part of Whitefish’s master plans for close to 25 years. The city’s 1987 Urban Renewal Plan envisioned a new facility at some point, and the location of a new City Hall also was a major component of the downtown master plan adopted in 2006.

Following a work session in February 2010, the City Council appointed a real estate committee including Mayor Mike Jenson, Finance Director Rich Knapp, council member Turner Askew and Stearns to review potential sites.

No time frame has been scheduled for building a city structure, but it would need to be done before the tax increment finance district sunsets in 2020 for the city to use tax increment revenue to pay for a new City Hall.

For the past several years the city has set aside $250,000 annually for a new facility and now has $1.5 million in that fund. The city plans to use tax increment revenue exclusively to pay for the entire project so that taxpayers aren’t burdened with higher taxes or a bond issue, Stearns said.

Projected costs range from roughly $5.5 million for the current City Hall site to $7.8 million for Block 46 at Third Street and Spokane Avenue. The cheapest option is retrofitting the Mountain West Bank building to the tune of about $4.2 million. It would cost about $5.9 million to build north of the library and about $6.7 million for the Baker Avenue site.

Stearns said it’s important for the community to decide on a site because it’s not a wise use of city money to spend needlessly for soil and percolation tests and further planning at each site.

While the downtown master plan suggested the site north of the library as the preferred alternative, citizens attending Thursday’s meeting came up with a lengthy list of detriments, including the potential interruption from train whistles, the out-of-the-way location and the potential for traffic congestion given the proximity to Whitefish Middle School.

The city owns a portion of land north of the library but would need to purchase additional land from BNSF Railway Co. While the property is within a designated polluted site from railroad contamination, BNSF would indemnify the city, Stearns said.

The Baker Avenue site was attractive to some because of its proximity to the green space at Riverside Park, but was considered by others to be too far from the downtown core.

The biggest concerns with the Block 46 and Mountain West Bank sites were the disconnect created by U.S. 93 and access issues. Many also felt Mountain West Bank is too far from downtown.

No matter where City Hall is built, there are certain amenities the building should have, the audience decided. Public restrooms, adequate parking, proximity to downtown, space for visitor services, energy efficiency and “one-stop shopping” for city residents made that list.

Making full use of the interactive devices, Stearns asked the audience to weigh in on how the city should handle the 10 p.m. siren now stationed at City Hall. Participants were given five different scenarios ranging from keep it at any cost to get rid of it. Results were mixed, but a third preferred to keep the time-honored siren at any cost.

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