Early designs unveiled for Whitefish City Hall

Consultants studying parking-garage options for downtown Whitefish rolled out conceptual drawings last week of what a new City Hall and parking structure could look like when City Hall is rebuilt at its current location.

The City Council decided in a split vote in September to rebuild City Hall where it is, at the corner of Baker Avenue and Second Street.

Mayor John Muhlfeld broke a tie vote in favor of the current location, with Richard Hildner, Frank Sweeney and John Anderson in favor of the current location and Bill Kahle, Phil Mitchell and Chris Hyatt against it.

Council members have had fundamental differences about whether using a full city block in downtown is the best use of that property.

Kimley-Horn and Associates and MMW Architects met with the City Council in a work session Dec. 3 to offer a progress report on their parking feasibility study and two possible design scenarios.

One design rendering shows a two-story City Hall with an entrance along Second Street — as it is now — and a parking garage on the north end of the block. A second rendering shows a one-story City Hall with an entrance along Baker Avenue, retail space fronting Second Street and a parking garage on the northeast portion of the block.

Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns stressed that the designs are “very preliminary” and not set in stone.

At its regular meeting following the work session, the council voted to conduct a traffic study that would consider the logistics of placing a parking garage in the Baker Avenue/First Street area behind a new City Hall.

The intersection of Baker and Second is one of Whitefish’s busiest intersections, with Baker Avenue serving as the major access route to Whitefish Mountain Resort, Second Street (U.S. 93), funneling truck and passenger vehicle traffic through downtown Whitefish.

Both design renderings showed several options for how the parking garage could be designed with up to three levels. The number of parking spots ranges from 190 to 265 depending on the layout of the structure.

Kimley-Horn’s study showed a 65 percent parking occupancy rate in downtown, with an occupancy level of 70 to 94 percent in the Central Avenue core area.

The study showed the need for 200 more spaces during peak demand periods.

Kimley-Horn representative Dennis Burns said the consultant team favors the design option providing around 2,000 square feet of retail space along Second Street.

“The idea is to make it walkable,” he said, where people can go from shop to shop without big gaps between stores.

Geotechnical testing is under way at the current City Hall site that is expected to help determine what construction costs will be at that location.

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