Subdivision promises '100 percent' affordable housing

A 58-lot subdivision planned on the eastern edge of Whitefish aims to provide an entire community of affordable housing using a cluster-development strategy.

Jerry Dunker of Trail View LLC is asking for approval of a preliminary plat with a planned-unit development overlay for the housing project proposed along Monegan Road near the intersection of Monegan and Voerman roads, south of Creekwood Estates.

The Whitefish Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the proposal at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 19, at Whitefish City Hall.

The proposed planned-unit development “will provide 100 percent affordable, single-family homes” at a density of 6.6 units per acre on the 8.8-acre tract, while maintaining 66 percent open space, according to the application filed at the Whitefish Planning Office.

The property is zoned Whitefish Residential-1, which requires a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet, but a planned-unit development overlay is a zoning tool that enables developers to deviate from the underlying zoning in order to cluster homes and increase density. The land directly west of the proposed subdivision is zoned county residential.

Whitefish zoning regulations allow a seven-unit per acre density bonus when a minimum of 10 percent affordable housing is provided. Half of the homes in Trail View would be deed-restricted, which keeps them affordable in perpetuity, and the other half would be “light” deed-restricted, according to the application.

Whitefish Housing Authority Executive Director Lori Collins said it’s not known yet what the definition of light deed-restricted will be. She met briefly with Dunker recently, but said the housing authority’s role in the project has not been determined. Various kinds of affordability are being explored, Collins added.

Collins expects to meet with the developer after the project is vetted through the city planning process.

The Trail View homes will be single-family two- and three-story structures ranging from 900 to 1,300 square feet. Massing, building height, construction materials and color palette will vary within the development.

“The design intent is that within each pocket neighborhood of 10 houses there will be no repeat of the same elevation/massing combination,” the application states.

Two access roads are planned along Monegan Road. The application notes Monegan would be paved “in collaboration with the city.” The Whitefish Parks and Recreation Department has a maintenance facility directly south of the proposed subdivision, and the city has plans to pave that stretch of Monegan.

The site includes a critical stormwater conveyance area where water drains to the west toward the nearby Whitefish River. The biggest part of the conveyance area would be part of the parkland dedication. The required 15-foot setback from the stormwater conveyance area will be honored, the application states.

Because of high groundwater in that area, the homes won’t have basements.

The developer will provide a 20-foot dedicated trail area on the western border that would connect to the city’s existing trail system.

The Trail View site is a portion of a much larger tract where an 82-home subdivision called Bridgewater Trails was proposed in 2005. The national recession that brought the Flathead Valley’s rapid growth of the early 2000s to a screeching halt also tanked the Bridgewater Trails project.

However, there was considerable neighborhood opposition to the 82-home plan at the time, largely because of perceived traffic congestion and drainage concerns.

With residential construction occurring at a brisk pace in Whitefish, the Planning Board will hold public hearings on three other housing projects at its April 19 meeting.

- Schumacher Interests Inc. is asking for a planned-unit development overlay to develop 60 condominiums at 6405 U.S. 93 South near the Mountain Mall pond.

- GMJ is requesting a conditional-use permit to develop 14 freestanding condominium cabins at 514 W. Second Street, north of the Karrow Avenue intersection.

- 124 O’Brien Lot LLC is asking for a conditional-use permit to develop a mixed-use building with eight residential units at 124 O’Brien Ave.

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