Whitefish microbrewery plan could face delay

Ryan Zinke’s plan to build a microbrewery and start a bed and breakfast inn in Whitefish may take a while to work its way through the city’s planning process.

The Whitefish Planning Office has recommended tabling Zinke’s project until a corridor study can be completed for U.S. 93 West/West Second Street. 

Zinke is proposing a nonresidential planned-unit development overlay on three parcels along U.S. 93 at 340, 409 and 415 West Second St. Two parcels for the bed and breakfast are on the south side of the highway and property for the microbrewery is on the north side of the highway.

The Whitefish Planning Board meets at 6 p.m. Thursday at Whitefish City Hall and will hold a public hearing on Zinke’s request. The board will forward its recommendation to the City Council for a hearing on Dec. 3.

The proposed bed and breakfast inn would offer six guest rooms in one home plus three guest rooms and onsite manager quarters in an adjacent home.

At the proposed microbrewery across the road, two existing older homes would be removed to make way for a new 3,010-square-foot building and space for a parking lot. Zinke has plans to build The Double Tap to look like a Great Northern Railway granary. Zinke’s family has owned the property where the microbrewery and tasting room would be located for about 75 years.

According to a Planning Office staff report, the biggest challenge for the project is that it doesn’t comply with the Whitefish growth policy. 

While very limited commercial activity is permitted within the current low-density multifamily residential zoning along this stretch of highway, “this proposal goes beyond that which is permitted or conditionally permitted in this zone,” Planner Wendy Compton-Ring wrote in her staff report.

“It is true that this corridor is evolving,” she noted. “It may not be conducive to single-family residential once the road is upgraded and perhaps some commercial uses may be acceptable, but this decision has not been made for this corridor.”

Compton-Ring pointed out that neighbors have not worked on a neighborhood planning process for the U.S. 93 West corridor and a corridor study has not been done.

“Once a corridor plan is adopted, a new zoning regulation could be developed that would be a reflection of the plan,” she said. “A piecemeal approach to planning for this corridor, an entryway into our community, could be disastrous. Staff finds it difficult to recommend approval of this application with different commercial uses than the zoning permits absent a corridor plan and different zoning. While it may turn out that these types of uses may be acceptable along this corridor, this application is simply premature.”

A half-dozen neighbors already have sent letters of opposition to the city. Their concerns run the gamut, from setting an undesirable precedent for the neighborhood and changing the character of the area to a decrease in privacy, noise, odors and the potential for the microbrewery to attract rodents.

If the Planning Board disagrees with the staff recommendation to table the application, the Planning Office offered an alternative recommendation for approval that would add 16 conditions of approval to the project and change six of the findings of fact.

The Montana Department of Transportation plans to rebuild U.S. 93 West from Lupfer Avenue to Milepost 133 west of Twin Bridges Road in three phases.

Construction of the first segment — from Lupfer to Karrow avenue — is anticipated next year and includes the stretch of highway running past the proposed microbrewery and bed and breakfast. Right-of-way acquisition is nearing completion, according to WGM Group, the engineering firm overseeing the project.

The entire highway project would be completed by 2015 or beyond.

The Planning Board has three other public hearing scheduled on Thursday. They include:

• A request by Mountain Digital Enterprises for a conditional-use permit to put a 100-foot-tall green monopole wireless tower on vacant land owned by F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co.

• A request by Randy Bradley for a conditional-use permit for an 11-unit condominium development with five professional office spaces in a low-density multifamily residential district at 514 and 526 West Second St.

• A request by the city of Whitefish to amend the zoning code to clarify standards for retaining walls.

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