Whitefish hotel discussion continues Thursday

The developer of the proposed Block 46 Hotel in downtown Whitefish has supplied additional information for the Whitefish Planning Board to review as it considers a recommendation on the project Thursday.

The board continued a Dec. 18 public hearing to allow both Whitefish Hotel Group and the city of Whitefish to respond to a number of questions.

Whitefish Hotel Group, which includes the Averill family and another business partner, proposes to build a $10 million three-story hotel on the city block directly south of Whitefish Middle School.

Sean Averill, on behalf of the hotel group, is asking the city of Whitefish for a conditional-use permit to allow the 89-room hotel to exceed the 7,500-square-foot building footprint limit within that commercial zone.

The first floor would cover roughly 15,000 square feet.

Among the concerns from local residents are parking, increased traffic in a residential neighborhood, the mass of the building, impact on existing infrastructure and the close proximity to Whitefish Middle School.

The hotel group plans to provide 67 parking spaces and has developed a revised plan to have parking access off the alley instead of East Third Street, which could provide additional on-street parking where there currently is no parking.

There are no parking space requirements for the underlying commercial zone on Block 46, according to the Planning Office staff report.

“The hotel will generate a need for parking that is not entirely being met off-street,” the report acknowledged. “While the project is providing significantly more parking than the underlying zoning requires, it may exacerbate an already challenging parking issue.”

Averill noted in additional information supplied to the Planning Office that hotel management would take measures to encourage employees to walk or bike to work. Free parking in an off-site leased parking lot, with shuttle service to the downtown hotel, is another option being worked out.

Addressing concerns about the environmental impact of a hotel, CMG Engineering supplied a report detailing drainage and water removal.

Developers initially had indicated the hotel would have a restaurant and bar, but those amenities aren’t included in the current application. Zoning regulations require a conditional-use permit for a bar/lounge, but exempts cabaret licenses, now called Restaurant Beer Wine licenses. If the developers obtain a Restaurant Beer Wine license from the state of Montana, city regulations won’t require a conditional-use permit.

There also was a concern that the hotel might be connected with a particular hotel chain. In Whitefish hotels do not fall under the city’s definition of “formula” retail, though any retail outlets or restaurant within the hotel would be subject to the city’s downtown prohibition of formula, or chain restaurants and retail stores.

The city planning staff is recommending approval of the conditional-use permit, subject to 20 conditions for various aspects of the construction and operation of the hotel.

The Planning Board has a number of public hearings scheduled for Thursday’s meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall. They include a review of the updated downtown master plan and a review of the U.S. 93 West Corridor plan for inclusion in the city growth policy as a new neighborhood plan.

Another hearing deals with a city-proposed amendment to clarify the blending of uses and density where a planned-unit development district overlays multiple underlying zones.

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