Whitefish Council considers subdivision fronting U.S. 93

Whitefish City Council on Monday is set to consider a commercial and residential development situated along U.S. 93.

The proposal looks to create a 29-lot subdivision with commercial lots along the highway and residential on the eastern portion of the property sandwiched roughly between Whitefish Avenue and Lenna Joy Drive.

City Council meets at 7:10 p.m. at City Hall, 418 E Second St.

True North Partners LLC is seeking a preliminary plat for the 13.45-acre parcel for the subdivision known as Snowy Mountain. The property would be bisected with a new public right-of-way that would create a north-south extension of Shiloh and Whitefish avenues.

Five lots are proposed in the area of the property closest to the highway ranging in size from roughly a half acre to an acre within the WB-2 zoning district.

To the east, 24 lots with 48 townhouses are proposed along with a looped public right-of-way connecting Shiloh/Whitefish to Lenna Joy Drive. The net density of the subdivision is 8.57 dwelling units per acre.

The proposal would dedicate 1 acre of parkland along the Whitefish River. Within the river buffer, the city has a 20-foot wide easement to locate and construct the municipality’s shared use path.

The property is partially developed with commercial use on the highway, but is undeveloped to the east and has historically been used for agriculture.

Plans call for an easement to provide access from the Dalen Dental building to the highway.

The proposed subdivision is expected to generate approximately 653 daily vehicle trips.

DURING A work session beginning at 5:30 p.m., Council will consider two items.

First, Council will review a phasing plan for improvements to the Baker Avenue viaduct.

The viaduct for several years now has been identified as a critical link between the north side of Whitefish and the downtown area to the south, thus the city has made plans to make improvements to the viaduct primarily for pedestrians and cyclists.

The first phase calls for installing a shared-use path, relocating guardrail and making accommodations for lighting. Later phases would include lighting improvements, ornamental fencing, landscaping, parking improvements for nearby Railway Street, pedestrian safety projects on the west and east sections of Railway Street and improvements to the city shared use path trailhead.

The full suite of improvements is expected to cost between $1.6 million and $2 million.

Council then will review the proposed WB-T business transitional zone again. Council has been off and on working through crafting the language for the zone since March.

The city’s Highway 93 South Corridor Plan calls for the creation of a highway business transitional zoning district for any newly annexed commercially zoned properties in the area south of Montana 40. The WB-T zone is intended to be a transitional district between the business service district zoning that is found just south of the county B-4 zoning on U.S. 93 and the WB-2 secondary business zoning just adjacent to it inside city limits.

The city has received recent annexation inquiries from potential developers looking at properties at or south of Montana 40 currently in the county. Thus, the planning department is asking Council to review the new zone and direct the ordinance to be brought back to Council at an upcoming meeting.

Features Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com.