Whitefish impact-fee revenue increases

Whitefish collected roughly a half-million dollars more in impact fees in fiscal year 2019 than it did the previous year — a total of nearly $1.3 million this fiscal year compared to about $700,000 last year.

Total building permits stayed the same for the year at about 250, but increases in the fees effective on Jan. 1, 2019, appears to have upped the total collections.

Whitefish City Manager Dana Smith said impact fee revenues exceeded budgeted expectations for the year that ended June 30, and, excluding water and wastewater impact fees, were up almost 69% from the previous year.

“Whitefish continues to see strong building and growth over the past few years, which has continued into the first few months of fiscal year 2020,” Smith said.

Impact fees are one-time charges for new development that increases the demand for city services. The city collects fees in seven areas that make up the total impact fee.

The water impact fee revenue total was 188% of budget and the wastewater impact fee revenue was 224% of budget.

The city increased its impact fees on Jan. 1, 2019, and then this fall increased the water portion of the fee beginning in September. The impact fee total for an average single-family home is $9,944.

The increase in the water portion of the impact fees was in response to required expansion by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to the city’s water treatment plant.

In addition to the impact fees charged, administrative expenses are charged to developers at a rate of 5% in addition to the fee rates. In FY19, the city collected $65,000 in administrative fees.

Impact fee revenues are continuing to trend higher, Smith noted.

Impact fees apply to new units in subdivisions as well as new homes built on single lots and some remodeling. Impact fees can be spent on public improvements, including planning, site improvements, land acquisition, construction or engineering.

— Whitefish Pilot

BeeHive Homes opens new C-Falls facility

BeeHive Homes in Columbia Falls opened its new facility last week. The spacious building has 19 rooms and every room has a three-quarter bath, said owner Julia Wiebelhaus.

“It’s significantly bigger than the other two buildings,” Wiebelhaus said during an open house.

Wiebelhaus and her husband Chris, own the BeeHive franchise in Columbia Falls at 13th Street West. Chris, who is a contractor, constructed the building, which has a stone fireplace and a well-appointed kitchen.

The first resident moved in last week and 11 others are expected to move in soon. The bathrooms in the rooms are designed for easy wheelchair access and the showers are walk-in and wheelchair accessible.

BeeHive is not a nursing home, but an assisted-living facility. People are helped with medication, meals, bathing and other daily care, Julia Wiebelhaus explained.

Demand for the units, which cost $3,900 a month is high. Twelve residents have already signed up.

The BeeHive franchise is well-known nationwide. The first was built in Columbia Falls in 2008 and the second in 2010. All the units are designed to feel like a real home.

— Hungry Horse News

Bigfork downtown parking lot nearing completion

The retaining wall on the two-level, downtown parking lot in Bigfork has been completed, bringing the 74-space lot one step closer to completion. The projected finish date is fall of 2020, depending on fundraising, said project coordinator Walter Kuhn. Kuhn is the treasurer of the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, the nonprofit organization that’s conducting the project.

Kuhn hopes to have the majority of the grading on the lot completed by the end of the year. That work is being done by students in Flathead Valley Community College’s heavy equipment operator program, a two-semester course that teaches students how to use dozers, graders, loaders and other work vehicles.

“They’ve done all the grading so far,” Kuhn said. “The parking lot is a classroom. It benefits them because they’re teaching [heavy equipment operation], and it benefits us because they’re doing it much cheaper than if we used a private contractor.”

The foundation still needs to raise an additional $250,000 for the remainder of the project, which includes components such as drainage, curb and gutter installation and landscaping. To date, they’ve received seven donations from individuals or businesses of $25,000 or more. Contributions are tax-deductible, Kuhn noted.

“It appears to be fully utilized during the summer months,” he said. “We’ve gotten lot good feedback — what did we do without it before?”

— Bigfork Eagle

Eureka students make new city street signs

The Lincoln County High School fabrication class is making new street signs for the town of Eureka, according to the Tobacco Valley News.

The students are designing and making 107 signs for the town, which is paying for the materials. Lincoln Electric Cooperative crews will put up the new signs sometime around Christmas.

The new street signs will replace many signs that went missing some time ago, the newspaper reported. Eureka Mayor Lee Ann Schermerhorn pointed out the remaining old signs were made by high schoolers in the 1970s.

— Tobacco Valley News

Castles Market changes ownership in Superior

A Superior store that has been a local institution for generations has changed hands.

The ownership of Castles Market came to an end last week with the retirement of Ken and Cathy Kuhl. For nearly 40 years they have been the latest generation to run Superior’s premier grocery store.

Cathy’s grandfather, William Castle, started the business in 1916 and it has remained in family hands until last Tuesday, when she and her husband Ken worked their last shifts before officially retiring and handing the business over to new ownership.

The Kuhls took over the business in 1980 when it was operating in the current building in Superior. Both had worked in the business for several years before assuming the reigns. The market’s original building was demolished several years ago.

“I started working here in 1975,” Ken said. “I worked here in while I was in high school and while attending college.”

For Cathy, her ties to the business have been life-long.

“I lived in an apartment above the old store,” she said. “If I wanted spending money as a kid, I worked for it helping out in the store.”

Over the years they have seen and experienced many changes, not just to the business but also the town of Superior. Both recall the major changes to the town when the local lumber mill closed near the end of the last century.

“The economy of the town itself has changed a lot over the years,” Ken said. “The mill was the big employer for the town. When it shut down it dramatically changed many things, a lot of people had to leave town to find work.”

Gone were many of the mill-related jobs and the logging industry that supported them. Despite the changes, the Castles adapted, persevered and remained a centerpiece as Superior changed to a more tourist-oriented economy.

The current location also includes an Ace Hardware store in the basement, making it even more of a go-to place for Superior area shoppers.

— Mineral Independent