Whitefish OKs affordable townhomes downtown

Construction will soon begin on 22 townhomes in downtown Whitefish that are 100% deed restricted for affordable community housing.

At a public hearing on Dec. 5 during the regular meeting of the Whitefish City Council, the preliminary plat and planned unit development overlay were approved by councilors with a unanimous vote.

Before the vote, Councilor Ben Davis said he was glad to see the project progressing and that his fellow council members seemed supportive of it.

“We have a significant need right now,” Davis said. “It’s only 22 units and we need hundreds, but that’s 22 families that get to continue to grow in our community that otherwise wouldn’t. And we owe it to them to (build this project).”

The new townhomes will be two-bedroom units available to households who earn 80 to 150% of the area median income (AMI). AMI is determined annually and for 2022, the AMI in Flathead County for a two-person household is $80,444.

The project, Depot Park Townhomes, is located north of Railway Street, east of Columbia Avenue, and south of the railroad tracks in a spot that was previously known as the snow lot since the location had been used for city snow storage for years.

The city donated the land to the Whitefish Housing Authority in June 2020, specifically to develop affordable housing. Councilor Steve Qunell expressed that maintaining a diverse economic population is crucial to the character of Whitefish.

“The people who built this town were workforce people, (not) vacation home buyers (who) live here part-time. They were people who were hard-working and increasingly, those people have been pushed out of this town,” said Qunell. “If we lose that segment of our population, we are going to become just like any other ski town in the places that we know we don’t like and we don’t want to become those places. This is a good step and at least it can bring some hope that we can get this done in this community.”

The project covers 1.64 acres and is an 11-lot subdivision with five lots on Railway Street and six on the north property line. The applicant, Whitefish Housing Authority, was granted two subdivision variances and several zoning variances including lot size, setbacks and fewer parking spaces; 1.4 parking spaces per unit will be provided rather than the typical two spaces.

In exchange for the deviations, 100% of the project will be deed restricted for affordable housing.

Building affordable housing at this site has been a goal of the city for several years and many organizations have taken strides to get here. Several people who spoke at the public hearing reiterated this fact.

“The city has taken many steps to get this project to where it is today, including the amendments to the Growth Policy, zone changes, donating the land to the housing authority and facilitating design charrettes which took place in 2018,” said Whitefish Senior Planner Wendy Compton-Ring.

Ben Johnson, Chair of the Whitefish Housing Authority, helped to clarify what it means to be deed restricted. He said the owner must occupy the home as their primary residence and the resale value of the homes is capped at a small appreciation rate.

He added that the HOA and the CCRs (covenants, conditions and restrictions) prohibit the use of the homes as short-term rentals. Additionally, the homes are not able to be rented or subleased.

Johnson also shed light on what AMI means by linking AMI percentages to annual income.

“Eighty percent AMI for a one-person household is different than 80% AMI for a two, three, four, five, six-person household, so… 80% to 150% AMI for an individual is about $44,000 - $83,000 a year… which is about $22 to $40 an hour,” Johnson said. “For a family of four, based on 2022 HUD numbers, 80% AMI is $63,000 and 150% AMI is $119,000.”

Jenn Cleary from Encompass Design Inc. presented a series of short videos to the council which showed how the development is expected to look and how some sightlines for the neighbors will remain.

Councilor Rebecca Norton asked about sound abatement due to the sometimes all-night rumbling of the railroad. Cleary said a sound engineer is working with them to dampen the noise by beefing up the walls and using thick window glass.

During public comment, only two residents spoke in opposition to the plan while six spoke in favor. One of the opponents said, in their opinion, that there are no working people downtown who make enough money to afford these homes and that no one wants these homes.

In response to that statement, a man wearing a Whitefish Mountain Resort uniform said he has been on the waiting list with the housing authority and checks realtor.com every day, looking for a home.

“I’m salivating at the prospect of being a homeowner,” he said. “I don’t care if I’m on the tracks, I’ll take it.”

Marijke, a citizen who was participating in the meeting online, said she currently lives 25 minutes away from Whitefish because that is where she can afford to live. She said she and her partner would be able to afford one of the Depot Park townhomes and that living in town may allow them to live with one car rather than two.

She mentioned that the tenants of the apartments behind the VFW have been evicted and another friend has been told to be out of his house by February. Her voice revealed her emotions.

“I just feel like people who have secure housing don’t understand what it’s like to not have secure housing,” she said.

The public hearing on the Depot Park Townhomes is now closed and the council will need to approve the plan again as part of the consent agenda during the regular meeting on Dec. 19.