Whitefish looks at next step for river path connection

Whitefish City Council on Monday will consider an engineering contract for the design of a much-anticipated connection to a missing piece of the path along the Whitefish River.

The path currently stops just under the Second Street bridge where steps lead up to Miles Avenue. Trail users have to follow Miles Avenue north before connecting back to the trail.

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

City plans have long called for constructing an extension of the trail between Kay Beller Park north toward a section of the trail that runs between the river and the BNSF railyard. Council in November 2021 decided to pursue the construction of the section even after pushback from homeowners in the Riverbend Condominium Homeowners’ Association who, despite a previously established 6-foot easement for the trail on the property, didn’t want to see it built.

Since then, the city has been working toward efforts to construct the trail with an elevated design that relies upon helical piers to extend the 10-foot path over the river.

In September of last year, Council approved the design for the elevated path and authorized city staff to move forward with selecting an engineer for the project. Now, Council is being asked to approve the awarding of a contract to TD&H Engineering to complete the design.

“While all of the consultants demonstrated their ability to successfully complete the project, TD&H stood out among the groups as the most capable with the strong project team they assembled with a long history of completing complicated river trail projects,” Public Works Director Craig Workman told Council in a memo.

While there isn’t any money dedicated to the trail project in this year’s budget, Workman is suggesting that $100,000 be dedicated to the project from general fund cash reserves.

“This will be sufficient budget allocation to complete the survey work and move forward with preliminary engineering this fiscal year,” Workman said. “Once the project moves into the final engineering and construction phase, paved trail impact fees and resort tax monies could be considered to fund the remainder of the project.”

A SECOND construction project also appears on Monday’s agenda. Council is set to vote on an engineering contract for the reconstruction of Karrow Avenue.

The project is next on the city’s resort tax priority list as the street sees heavy vehicular traffic volume and has unsuitable roadway conditions. There also is a need for a bike and pedestrian connection between West Second Street and West Seventh Street, according to the city.

Construction would include road, storm sewer and pedestrian improvements.

The Public Works Department is recommending Council approve a contract with Robert, Peccia, and Associates for the project. The city has $50,000 budgeted to complete survey work and begin the design of the project.

Council also has a single public hearing on its agenda related to updating regulations regarding retaining walls. Amendments to the city’s zoning code were approved in 2020 to prevent large retaining walls from being constructed in setbacks and impacting adjacent property owners.

“Since then several property owners and landscape designers have asked for further clarification of the ordinance,” according to the planning staff report.

Minor changes are being made to the language so it is easier to understand and “amendments make it clear that there are no exemptions for retaining wall heights in side and rear setbacks and provide additional definitions for finish grade and natural grade.”

In addition, updates include a new definition of finish grade that would prohibit someone from piling a slope of dirt or artificial embankment adjacent to a retaining wall in order to try to make a retaining wall that is too high legal.

DURING A work session prior to the regular meeting, Council has two items scheduled for discussion.

Council, beginning at 5:45 p.m., will discuss the viaduct improvement project for Baker Avenue.

The viaduct has long been identified as a critical link to tie the north side of Whitefish to the downtown area on the south side of the viaduct. Plans to make upgrades to the viaduct appear in the city’s Downtown Master Plan and its Bike and Pedestrian Master plan.

The city has been working with WGM Group to accomplish basic bike and pedestrian safety aspects of the project that include narrowing the vehicle traffic travel lanes on the viaduct to create a 12-foot wide multi-use trail on both sides of the roadway.

Council previously directed city staff to expand the project to include a steel railing to replace the existing Jersey barriers on the viaduct.

However, the city has been unable to come up with a railing design or decorative lighting for the viaduct that the Montana Department of Transportation will approve because if the attachments were hit it would damage the bridge deck which would require the closure of the viaduct to repair, according to Public Works Director Craig Workman.

Council is expected to discuss the project and provide direction on how to proceed with the project.

At 6:15 p.m., Council is set to discuss an update to the city’s landscape regulations. The Planning Department has created a list of changes to the regulations that Council is expected to review and critique. The changes will later return to Council for a formal vote.

The new landscaping requirement would apply to everything except single-family detached homes, while the current code exempts single-family, duplexes and triplexes from the requirement. The new regulations would require landscaping based on performance standards rather than area size as is the case with current standards.

Among the regulations, landscaping would need to be made up of 50% plants native to Montana, and no more than 50% being from the same species.

Changes also include simplification of the city’s tree preservation requirements. Under the rules, preservation of trees would be required for certain sizes of trees and any qualifying tree removed would need to be replaced with trees larger in diameter than what was removed.

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