Whitefish council rejects eastside apartment proposal
The Whitefish City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to deny an application to develop two apartment units near the new Muldown Elementary school.
The developer, Central Ave WF, was requesting a conditional-use permit to develop two 18-unit apartment buildings to the southwest of the intersection of Seventh Street and Pine Avenue. The units would have come with a clubhouse, 50 parking spaces and further development of Eighth Street. The property is zoned for high-density, multi-family residential development.
This was the first project Whitefish reviewed under its Legacy Homes Program, which requires 20% of all new residential developments to be set aside for long-term affordability. This meant seven out of the 36 apartments in the proposed development would have been required to meet the criteria for affordable housing.
Council member Rebecca Norton made the motion to deny the application and council member Steve Qunell seconded the motion.
Norton said she “was not going to vote for it with this much public opposition” even though she appreciated efforts the developer made to mitigate public concerns.
“I just think in the end, we represent the people that live here, so if there’s a major outcry against it, that’s the priority for me,” she said.
The Whitefish Planning Board received over 50 letters from residents and consultants opposing the development’s current proposal, with much of the opposition focused on congestion and increased traffic in a neighborhood full of schools. Many of these opponents showed up to speak at the Tuesday public hearing.
“There’s nothing there that slows the traffic down,” said neighborhood resident John Fleming. He suggested the city finish developing Sixth Street and add ways to control traffic – such as crosswalks, speed bumps and four-way stops – before increasing the population of the area.
Qunell called himself and the city a “champion for affordable housing” and said this was “a chance to put our money where our mouth is,” but said the 36-unit development was “too dense” for the area.
“This is where I think that the council needs to take a leadership role. And it’s our job to say what is too dense in certain areas; it’s our job to say that we shouldn’t feel like we are held hostage by offers of increased right of way,” Qunell said.
Council member Andy Feury called for developers to knock on doors of houses to see what neighboring residents would like to see from a proposed development. He said he could “vote either direction” on the motion and said supporters of affordable housing will eventually have to accept higher-density developments.
“We do have to have density at some point. We can’t do it [affordable housing] without density. And that’s the hard part of that,” he said.
Council member Melissa Hartman, who lives in the neighborhood, said it “was a really, really difficult decision to have to make.
“It would be great if we could just provide affordable single-family homes to everybody, but it’s not realistic and wouldn’t be affordable. One of the questions I find myself asking: If not here, where?”
In an email statement, Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld wrote that without the conditional-use permit, the developer could submit a building permit for a maximum of seven units per lot for a total of 14 units.
“This is considered ‘use by right’ in this district,” he wrote, adding it would not be “subject to planning board or city council review.”
“Unfortunately, with this process, the city won’t have the authority to require improvements to public infrastructure such as additional right of way along Eighth Street to improve pedestrian safety and traffic and circulation concerns of the neighbors,” Muhlfeld wrote.
In December, the project was forwarded to the council without a recommendation by the Whitefish Planning Board. However, the Planning Department still recommended approval of the project.
The council was originally supposed to vote on the project at its Jan. 6 meeting, but delayed its decision to give council members more time to research the proposal.
Reporter Colin Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or cgaiser@dailyinterlake.com
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