Whitefish looks at temporary halt for new marijuana shops

Whitefish City Council on Tuesday will consider whether to place a six-month moratorium on new marijuana businesses in the municipality.

Council at a recent work session expressed concern about the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries throughout Whitefish, and about the setback requirements from schools and churches.

The meeting is on Tuesday because of the Presidents’ Day holiday. City Council meets at 7:10 p.m. at City Hall, 418 E Second St.

Following a public hearing, Council will vote on an interim zoning ordinance with the prohibition with the intention of providing time for Council and city staff to study the issue and look at increasing setbacks and or changing the permitting procedures for such businesses.

Council made recreational marijuana facilities legal in December 2021. Since then, 11 conditional use permits have been granted, with five of those open for business.

Currently, the city zoning regulations defer to the Montana Department of Revenue setback standards whereby a dispensary could go in next to a school or church if the address and front doors are on different streets, with the exception that the city’s current marijuana ordinance prohibits dispensaries on Spokane Avenue between Railway Street and East Second Street.

If approved, the interim ordinance would take effect immediately.

The planning staff expects to schedule a work session with Council in April to discuss the matter.

ALSO ON the agenda, Council is expected to vote on two other items.

Council will vote to allow the Public Works Department to apply for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s RAISE grant to assist with costs associated with improvements to create critical bicycle and pedestrian links as identified in the city’s transportation plans.

The project's primary goal would be to complete a missing link in the pedestrian route on Spokane Avenue from East Second to Railway Street. The project would also include a protected bikeway between East Second and Railway Street.

The federal grant would likely pay 80% of the cost, while the city would be required to pay 20%.

North Valley Music School is asking Council to approve its building plans for a new school facility to be constructed at Smith Fields, which is owned by the city and managed by Project Whitefish Kids.

The nonprofit music school is planning to construct an 8,100-square-foot building including music studios, multi-purpose recital space, classroom and related rooms.

DURING A work session at 6 p.m., Council is set to discuss the process of updating the city’s growth policy, which is the document used as a guide for making decisions about future land uses. Zoning must be generally consistent with the growth policy.

State statute requires the review of an adopted growth policy at least once every five years. The existing growth policy was last updated in 2007, though it has been amended to add other plans such as the downtown master plan in 2021.

“As it has been 16 years since the original growth policy was approved, a new growth policy which reflects current and future conditions and ties together all subsequent plans is prudent and has been established as a City Council priority goal,” said Alan Tiefenback, city long range planner, in a memo.

The planning staff expects to begin the kickoff of the process of updating the growth policy with visioning meetings with the public in April and May. A tentative timeline for the final public hearings and adoption of the updated growth policy is late 2024 or early 2025.

State statute requires that the city begin the process of updating the growth policy by completing an inventory of its existing characteristics and features using maps and narratives. Over the last several months, city staff has mapped the existing conditions of all properties within the city. Staff plans to share these results with Council during the work session.

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