Lakeshore regulations on Whitefish agenda
The Whitefish City Council will tackle a couple of big issues during a work session that precedes tonight’s council meeting.
Starting at 5 p.m. the council will discuss lakeshore regulations and processes, including the transition of lakeshore oversight from the city of Whitefish to Flathead County as directed by a state Supreme Court ruling last year.
Council members will discuss potential cooperation with the county on permitting and provide the city direction on updating city lakeshore regulations to reflect jurisdictional changes. About a quarter of Whitefish Lake’s shoreline falls within city limits.
Previously the city of Whitefish handled all lakeshore permits on Whitefish and Lost Coon lakes, which are located within the former 2-mile planning “doughnut” that was thrown out by the high court.
At 6:15 p.m. the council will turn its attention to a potential special improvement district for the parking structure that will accompany the new City Hall in downtown Whitefish. City officials will explain and review the proposed assessment details and talk about the process of creating the special improvement district. The council will be asked to give city staff direction on how to proceed.
Public comments will be taken during both work session discussions.
At the regular meeting that begins at 7:10 p.m., the council has four public hearings scheduled.
The first hearing will consider the Whitefish Crossing 60-unit apartment project on U.S. 93 S. This is a continuation of a hearing held in November 2014. Jeff Badelt and Sean Averill with Montana Development Group plan to develop the apartment complex on 4.5 acres that is partially developed with a dry-cleaning business and drive-through coffee kiosk.
The adjacent Park Knoll neighborhood appealed the city zoning administrator’s interpretation of the zoning regulations for the project site, but withdrew the appeal last month. The neighbors and developers have come to an agreement over the site plan, but neither city staff nor the public have reviewed the revised site plan, according to City Manager Chuck Stearns’ council report.
A second hearing will consider a conditional-use permit request by Spotted Bear Spirits to operate a microdistillery at 505 Railway St.
Next on the hearing list is a request by Timberlane Real Estate for a conditional-use permit to develop four two-unit condominium buildings at 722 Edgewood place.
The last hearing involves the schematic design for the City Hall and parking structure project. Mosaic Architecture will give a presentation on the latest design plans prior to the public hearing.
Other agenda items include selection of an engineering design consultant for new restrooms planned at the O’Shaughnessy Center as phase two of the Depot Park master plan; and discussion and direction on whether or not to spend $1.3 million to convert the existing overhead utilities on West Seventh Street to underground utilities.
Both the work session and council meeting are at City Hall.