Whitefish fly shop OK'd for move to Spokane Avenue

Whitefish City Council Jan. 17 gave its approval for Lakestream Fly Shop to operate out of a recently remodeled building on Spokane Avenue.

Council approved a conditional use permit to allow for the operation of a recreational guide and outfitters business at 669 Spokane Ave.

“This vacant property fits the future of Lakestream,” owner Justin Lawrence said. “We hope we can contribute to this neighborhood.”

During public comment, a few people raised concerns with the building site plan.

Mayre Flowers, with Citizens for a Better Flathead, urged further review to make sure that standards are being met.

She claims that the site doesn’t meet the city’s current standards for landscaping and parking.

“We look forward to this business being an asset to the community, but we need you to do what’s right,” Flowers told council. “We think you need to table this to create a plan for parking and landscaping.”

Senior Planner Wendy Compton-Ring acknowledged that the building doesn’t meet some of the current standards, such as for landscaping in the parking lot, but because the building was constructed prior to creating those city regulations the building is essentially grandfathered in as non-conforming.

“So many different businesses around town don’t meet the standards,” she said. “But when they change use we allow that because otherwise we would have unusable buildings.”

Flowers also raised concerns about Lakestream using the city’s East Seventh Street right-of-way on the south side of the building to access their own property. She claims Lakestream is encroaching onto the city’s right-of-way.

Planning Director Dave Taylor said Lakestream is not encroaching onto the city’s right-of-way.

“The parking spaces go right to the edge of the property line,” he said.

The site plan submitted to the city shows six parking spaces that run on Lakestream’s property along the edge of the Seventh Street right-of-way.

During public comment, Rhonda Fitzgerald said the right-of-way can either be for a driveway or for parking, but there isn’t space for both. She requested that the city ask the owner to reconfigure their parking so it wouldn’t interfere with the right-of-way.

“It’s in the best interest of the community to have a transportation plan,” she said.

Currently, East Seventh Street dead ends at Kalispell Avenue to the east of the property, but transportation plans show that the street would eventually be constructed fully to the west of U.S. 93 South. A paved section of the right-of-way runs between the Lakestream building and the purple A-frame building to the south and is routinely used by cars to access the nearby businesses.

Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman said the site plan shows all of the required parking on the business’ own property.

“When we develop Seventh Street we would work with the owner to create only one or two ingress or egresses to the property,” he said. “That’s pretty far off in the future.”

During public comment, Mike Jenson said all the concerns about the use of Seventh Street are just “noise.”

“No one has ever questioned that we won’t develop Seventh,” he said. “He is parking there now, but he isn’t saying that Seventh Street can’t be developed. He can still use that street to access his property once it’s developed.”

City Council in August approved a change in the city’s zoning code that added recreational guides and outfitters as an allowed use with a CUP in the WB-2 zone. Lakestream is currently located on 334 Central Ave. in the WB-3 general business district.

The business originally requested the change to the zoning code because it said it needed more space for parking and outdoor displays.

Less than 30 percent of the total square footage of the building on Spokane will be used for retail. Boats will be displayed beneath the building’s awning in front and parking is located in the existing adjacent lot and on the undeveloped East Seventh Street to the south.