Whitefish council mulls hotel's rooftop hot tub proposal
The fate of the Firebrand Hotel’s embattled rooftop hot tub proposal will be determined by the Whitefish City Council tonight following a public hearing on the matter.
Whitefish Hotel Group, developer of the $10 million, 86-room hotel that opened earlier this year, is asking the council to consider amending a condition of the lodging facility’s conditional-use permit to install a hot tub on the roof.
The Whitefish Planning Board and the city planning staff recently recommended the proposal be denied. Prior to that both city Zoning Administrator David Taylor and the Whitefish Board of Adjustment denied the rooftop location.
The hotel group proposes to enclose the hot tub with a 5-foot glass wall on two sides and an 8-foot tall wood fence on two sides to reduce noise in the residential areas surrounding the hotel. The hot tub would be in the northwest corner of the roof, on the north side of the hotel, and would be available only to hotel guests with a key card by either the elevators or stairs.
Initial plans for the Firebrand Hotel included space for a pool and a hot tub in the hotel basement, but at some point the developer made the decision to scrap the pool and relocate the hot tub to the roof. A laundry facility, storage and conference room were placed in the basement instead.
The city staff is recommending the council deny the request.
A second public hearing on tonight’s agenda will consider increasing public use fees for the Whitefish City Beach boat launch.
The launch fee has been $5 per boat since 2011 and now is proposed to double to $10. A season pass would increase from $40 to $50.
Discussion among Park Board members focused on establishing a fair fee in comparison to other launches, including state parks.
In other business, the council will review and consider approving the annual impact fee report. The overall cash balance for impact fees increased from $1.57 million in fiscal year 2015 to $1.73 million for fiscal 2016. The cash balance for some types of impact fees decreased due to increased spending on new projects and increased transfers to other funds to pay previously incurred debt, according to Finance Director Dana Smith’s staff report.
“Currently, the water impact fee cash reserves are being closely monitored since they have continued to grow by significant amounts with minimal use,” the report said. “Staff is looking at accelerating projects that are eligible for water impact fees, including those identified in the capital improvement plan and the possible extinguishment of debt that was previously incurred for impact fee eligible projects.”
The council will hold a work session at 5:30 p.m. to discuss and provide direction on the cable television franchise agreement with Charter Communications, and on parking lease rates and the number of leased parking spaces in the forthcoming city parking structure behind the new City Hall.
The regular meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. Both the work and regular sessions will be held at the interim City Hall, 1005 Baker Ave. in Whitefish.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.