Whitefish wants input on U.S. 93 corridor plan
A plan to rezone 490 acres of land along the U.S. 93 corridor outside of Whitefish city limits has prompted the city of Whitefish to schedule a public hearing Monday to provide more public feedback on the proposed corridor plan.
The hearing will be held during the Whitefish City Council meeting at 7:10 p.m. Monday at 1005 Baker Ave.
Last month independent land planner Dave DeGrandpre of Land Solutions briefed the council on a citizen-initiated corridor plan that would change the zoning from agricultural and suburban agricultural zoning to more commercial and business service zoning. The area includes about 1.5 miles of the U.S. 93 strip south of the Montana 40 intersection.
The acreage is part of the Whitefish “doughnut” area that previously was under Whitefish’s planning control. A state Supreme Court ruling ceded planning jurisdiction to Flathead County in 2014. The county Planning Board will consider the corridor plan at its January 2017 meeting.
“Our main concerns are the lack of public feedback and involvement prior to submittal, as well as the proliferation of commercial zoning south of Highway 40,” Whitefish Planning Director David Taylor said in a memorandum sent Nov. 17 to the Whitefish Planning Board.
The proposal calls for a special overlay zone with more restrictive development standards that on first blush appear to be consistent with Whitefish zoning standards for landscaping, buffers, site plan requirements, signs, parking and dark skies lighting, Taylor said.
There is also an architectural review element.
“Those more restrictive standards are a welcome addition to the corridor,” Taylor added.
However, the plan also recommends changing the zoning within the corridor. Currently the corridor zoning goes from County B-2A commercial north of the Montana 40 intersection to SAG-5 (suburban agriculture with a 5-acre minimum lot size) south of it. Farther down toward the edge of the former Whitefish doughnut area it turns to AG-20, or agricultural with a 20-acre minimum lot size.
In the proposal, the current AG-20 would become SAG-5, and the current SAG-5 would, for the most part, become business service district.
When the county rezoned the doughnut, it adopted Whitefish’s business service district zoning to align with the city zoning that was in place at the intersection of Montana 40 and Dillon Road prior the Supreme Court ruling.
Taylor said the corridor plan does include some needed transportation improvements such as required frontage roads for commercial development, unified site development and consolidated approaches to minimize highway access points, lower highway speeds and easements for a future bike trail.
“Unfortunately, the city of Whitefish and its residents who are highly impacted by this plan have not had a seat at the table to help steer the development of this plan, but only an opportunity to comment on the plan to the developers and the county,” Taylor stated in his memorandum. “Ideal-ly, the proponents of this plan should have invited greater public engagement prior to releasing a final draft. There was no open house, no invitation to the public, city residents and stakeholders for input and visioning, and no publicity on the development of the plan.
“Community buy-in is a critical element for any long-range plan to be successful,” Taylor continued. “The developers should have also come to the Whitefish Planning Board and City Council to ask for input prior to submitting the plan for approval with the county. That would have allowed time to go over items of concern and make potential amendments to the plan so it would fully have Whitefish’s support.”
Taylor said the Whitefish city staff would like to see the process delayed by the county until more public outreach has been done by the applicants and Whitefish’s concerns can be addressed.
Taylor further pointed out that although the corridor is under county planning jurisdiction, at some point in the future some parcels would be annexed as the city grows.
Property owners along the U.S. 93 strip south of Whitefish hired DeGrandpre in 2013 because they wanted more zoning flexibility. There are several businesses along the highway outside Whitefish city limits, but most are nonconforming or conditional uses.
Email or written comments can be submitted to the Whitefish City Clerk at P.O. Box 158, Whitefish, MT 59937; delivered to 1005 Baker Ave. in Whitefish, or sent by email to mhowke@cityofwhitefish.org. Public comment will be taken at Monday’s hearing as well.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.