The Whitefish City Council tonight will decide whether to allow the construction of a 76-room Hampton Inn & Suites planned off U.S. 93 South.

Larry Lambert of Lambert Hotels in Missoula is asking the city for a commercial planned unit development on a portion of the property where the defunct Wendy’s restaurant is located. The proposal also needs a conditional-use permit to move forward.

The project has the blessing of the Whitefish Planning Board and Planning Office, both of which have recommended approval. The City Council is expected to make a decision tonight following a public hearing.

Lambert proposes to build the $8 million hotel on the wider portion of a 5.7-acre tract about 300 feet away from the highway to soften effects of the building and parking lot, and to allow for a landscaped entrance to the hotel. The Wendy’s building will be torn down.

He’s asking for a variance to build a portion of the hotel roof to a height of 45 feet, 10 feet beyond the city’s maximum 35-foot limit. The majority of the roof line is at 31 feet.

Three other public hearings are on the agenda, including a proposed ordinance amending zoning regulations to identify private postal and shipping services as a conditional use in the secondary business district. 

The request is related to the UPS Store that recently relocated to a new building just north of Walgreens. City zoning regulations don’t allow shipping services in the zoning district where the UPS Store operates.

A public hearing is scheduled to consider a request from Elk Highlands for a two-year extension to the Wapiti Woods final plat.

The final hearing deals with the city’s proposed applications to the 2015 Legislature for grants to finance a proposed $1.14 million wastewater system project that would primarily  focus on repair of leaking manholes and connecting sewers. During wet weather and snowmelt, more than half of the flow to the sewer plant may be clear water, according to Public Works Director John Wilson.

The city anticipates new regulatory standards within the next five years would require a costly new treatment facility under a mandated compliance schedule. Reducing the average and peak flow volumes to the plant by removing the flow of clear water now could significantly reduce the future cost of a new plant, Wilson said.

The council will hear a presentation from the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau related to the organization’s marketing plan and lodge tax budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The plan requires annual approval from the city.

A $2.02 million construction contract with Knife River Construction for the second phase of the East Second Street reconstruction project will be voted on.

The council also will vote on a proposed resolution approving the purchase of six city lots that contain a storm drainage pond at Riverside Park. Several years ago when the city considered dredging and aerating the pond to deal with an algae problem, the city discovered the property is owned by BNSF Railway Co.

BNSF’s history of ownership of the pond property is unknown but may date back to the checkerboard ownership of lands the railroad got from the federal government in the mid-1800s, City Manager Chuck Stearns said in his council report.

“We had heard from local BNSF representatives that they didn’t really know they owned it and they really weren’t interested in the six lots,” Stearns wrote.

After negotiations, BNSF agreed to sell the land for $56,500.

The council will hold its annual goal-setting session from 5:30 to 6:50 p.m. The regular meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. Both meetings are at Whitefish City Hall.

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