Whitefish board considers variance requests

A variance request to develop a commercial mixed-use building at 124 O’Brien Ave. tops the Dec. 5 Whitefish Board of Adjustment meeting.

Property owner Natasha Ostrem is asking for a setback variance of 0 feet for the west rear yard and 15 feet for the east front yard.

Setback standards in the WB-3 zoning district require the front yard in this neighborhood to be the “prevailing front-yard setback.” Prevailing is defined in Whitefish zoning regulations as the setback that occurs most commonly on the side of the block on which a project is proposed, according to the planning staff report.

“The front-yard setback on this block would look at the single-family homes to the north of this vacant lot,” Senior Planner Wendy Compton-Ring said in her report. “As described in the application, application of this standard would require a 36-foot front-yard setback.”

The rear-yard setbacks in this zone are 15 feet when abutting a residential district, otherwise none. The property to the west of Ostrem’s property is the parking lot for the Riverside Plaza, a commercial building along East Second Street.

The Board of Adjustment also will make a decision on variance requests for setbacks on three separate vacant lots on Bonita Circle in the Riverview Meadows Subdivision off U.S. 93 near Mountain Mall in Whitefish.

Mikay Enterprises is asking for a variance to the setback requirements for a flag lot. Zoning regulations call for a 15-foot setback, but Mikay is asking to have a setback of 20 feet along Whitefish Avenue, and 10-foot setbacks along all other property lines.

The Board of Adjustment meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, at Whitefish City Hall. Board of Adjustment decisions are final.