Whitefish looks to rezone gateway property

Whitefish City Council on Monday will consider rezoning a property located at the southern gateway to the city.

The approximately 11-acre property, recently annexed into the city, is located at the northwestern portion of the U.S. 93 and Montana 40 intersection.

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

The three parcels on Iverson Lane contain two single-family homes and are zoned county secondary business and suburban agricultural. The city is requesting that the property be rezoned to country residential and business transitional district, a zoning designation created based on the city’s Highway 93 South Corridor Plan.

However, the property owner Eric Payne, with nuWest Builders, has objected to the business transitional district saying the secondary business district would be a better fit. He told the city Planning Board last month that from the time he purchased the land several years ago, the city has said secondary business would be the zoning for the property, and if he’d known it may be zoned business transitional he wouldn’t have purchased it.

The secondary business district is intended for retail sales and services which need large display or parking areas, and for outdoor commercial amusement or recreational activities. Mixed-use and multi-family housing is also appropriate.

The business transitional district is intended for professional offices, medical facilities, light commercial and manufacturing, along with residential uses that provide a mixed-use environment.

The section of property planned for the business transitional is identified in the city’s growth policy as Highway Transitional which is defined as the area along U.S. 93 south of Montana 40. Property to the north and east of the annexed property is zoned secondary business. However, the city’s business transitional district is new to the zoning code and didn’t go into effect until March.

The growth policy designates the western portion of the property as suburban residential, which is consistent with the proposed country residential.

ALSO ON the agenda, Council is considering a conditional use permit to operate a bar/tavern in an existing commercial building in the secondary business district at 6185 U.S. 93 South.

The application is to renew a previously approved CUP approved in 2020, but that expired. An empty building on the property is planned for the tavern.

The property now has a newly constructed car wash and coffee shop since the last application.

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