Wisconsin Avenue Corridor Plan ready for prime time

A guiding document that charts the course for growth along the only road leading to Whitefish Mountain Resort is finished and ready for public perusal.

The Whitefish Planning Board will get the first crack at the draft plan at its Jan. 18 meeting, and will forward a recommendation to the City Council.

The Wisconsin Avenue Corridor Plan is the result of a thorough planning process over nine months that included numerous neighborhood meetings to determine how the corridor should develop over the next 20 years. Whitefish consulting firm Applied Materials drafted the plan in conjunction with Robert Peccia and Associates, GSBS Richman Consulting, the Wisconsin Avenue Steering Committee and the Whitefish Planning Office.

It examines future land uses, motorized and non-motorized transportation, infrastructure, economic performance and potential improvements.

Wisconsin Avenue is a vital transportation link between the ski resort and downtown Whitefish and also is the primary connection to Whitefish Lake. It’s a two-lane secondary highway maintained by the Montana Department of Transportation. A separate paved bike and pedestrian path runs alongside the street.

It’s a busy road, with an average annual daily traffic count of 11,500 vehicles, and traffic volumes are expected to increase as the corridor continues to be developed, the draft plan points out. Growth at Whitefish Mountain Resort directly impacts Wisconsin Avenue. Over the past decade, skier visits have climbed from 297,000 to 346,000 last ski season.

The corridor serves several key “activity nodes,” such as Stumptown Ice Den, Alpine Market commercial area and The Lodge at Whitefish Lake.

The plan studies the area between Edgewood Drive, which parallels the railroad tracks, and the intersection of Big Mountain Road and East Lakeshore Drive. It’s an area with a diverse mix of uses, including neighborhood commercial, office, resort residential and business, and both single-family and multi-family housing.

Fourteen “action” items are detailed as recommendations as development occurs. At the top of the list is a recommendation to review land-use regulations to provide for future right of way acquisition to allow for road improvements.

No. 2 on the list is to evaluate options for road widening, turn lanes, curbs, parkways and intersection improvements along Wisconsin Avenue.

Other action items include identifying options to expand transit availability, developing park-and-ride lots and conducting a feasibility study for an emergency services facility near Big Mountain Road.

The plan further suggests identifying potential traffic-calming solutions for Colorado Avenue, a move that would involve neighborhood meetings.

An engineering study to address storm-water management issues for Viking Creek is another action item, along with adopting tree preservation guidelines.

As far as development potential, there are plenty of opportunities, the draft details. A former trailer park on Edgewood Drive is vacant and zoned commercial. A mixed-use project with a residential component could be developed with a planned-unit development overlay, the plan suggests.

Redevelopment of single-family lots along Wisconsin into multi-family housing is another possibility.

A reclaimed gravel pit across from Alpine Market is another bastion of potential for the corridor. In November a proposal for a 102-unit housing complex was proposed on the property. It would include 66 condominium cabins and 36 apartment condos on 10.26 acres, and would remove the Big Mountain Trailer Court.

One of the highest-profile tracts of undeveloped land is at the Big Mountain Road intersection. The northwest and northeast corners of the junction are large vacant tracts and existing residential with older deteriorated single-family homes.

Current zoning at the intersection is a combination of one-family residential and low-density multi-family housing. On the south side of the intersection are large single-family tracts with lake frontage. The property owner owns the entire area and has expressed an interest in a unified development of the parcels, the draft plan notes.

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