By LYNNETTE HINTZE

The Daily Inter Lake

The Whitefish City Council turns its attention to the city's sign ordinance during a work session at 6 p.m. tonight.

Specifically, the council will discuss historic signs and art as signs.

A question was raised at a recent council meeting about whether the city could develop standards that would allow the council to designate certain signs as historic.

When the city's sign code was overhauled a decade ago, a provision was added so that rather than requiring all nonconforming signs to be replaced by a certain date, the city slowly would phase out all nonconforming signs.

Signs deemed to have historic value could be handled two ways, according to a Planning Office report.

The first option is to allow property owners with historic signs to retain them by paying a $1,980 variance fee. The second option is creating a text amendment creating special criteria to address historic signs.

City Attorney Mary VanBuskirk will address the issue of art as signs.

The city recently dealt with the issue when the owners of Mrs. Spoonover's restaurant sued the city to keep an exterior art mural. In that case the city argued the mural of an ice-cream cone and other food items constituted advertising and ordered the mural to be removed because it put the business over its allotted square footage for signs.

The court eventually ruled the city had failed to apply its sign laws in a consistent and non-discriminatory fashion, and the mural was allowed to remain.

VanBuskirk's report includes a proposed new section of the sign code in which the council could waive the provisions of the law in cases where signs are substantially works of art containing no text.

When the regular council meeting starts at 7:10 p.m., two public hearings will be held.

The first hearing deals with design and construction options for the next resort tax street reconstruction project planned at Sixth Street and Geddes Avenue. That project was halted several years ago when the city decided to divert resort-tax revenue to downtown street reconstruction.

The second hearing will consider a proposed ordinance to establish mandatory zoning compliance permits for all projects except single-family homes. The permit - currently provided on a volunteer basis - would allow the planning staff to review permitted uses, setbacks, lot coverage, building height, landscaping requirements and outdoor lighting standards.

The Whitefish City-County Planning Board last November recommended approval of the text amendment establishing the mandatory permits.

In other business, the council again will consider an increase in electrical, mechanical and plumbing permit fees. The council postponed a decision in January, asking for a more detailed cost analysis from the staff.

Costs and financing options for a Birch Point quiet zone railroad crossing will be discussed. Property owners have approached the council several times in recent years to create a quiet zone.

BNSF Railway Co. and the state Department of Transportation may absorb a portion of the cost, and the city could pay a minimal amount, but the lion's share of the cost would come from Birch Point residents in the form of a special improvement district.

Both the work session and regular meeting will be held at Whitefish City Hall.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.