A look back at the top news stories of 2015.

1. Haskill Basin

Roughly three years in the making, a conservation easement for Haskill Basin north of Whitefish was effectively completed this year.

Aiming to protect the viewshed, wildlife habitat and Whitefish’s source for drinking water, the easement includes 3,020 acres of F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. property. In a move that maintains public access and prohibits residential development, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the city will jointly hold the easement. In June 2013 the Trust for Public Land announced a deal with Stoltze to permanently protect the land through the purchase of development rights while allowing the company to continue managing he forestland. The Stoltze property, located next to Whitefish Mountain Resort and the Iron Horse development, was considered valuable for potential future development. The overall purchase was expected to cost $20.6 million, but Stoltze agreed to contribute $4 million to the project.

In the spring of 2014, the project was named the top-ranked Forest Legacy Program project and the U.S. Forest Service committed a $7 million grant toward the deal. In September that same year, the project was awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Although the easement had a base of financial support, about $8 million needed to be raised. City Council in February decided to take the issue to the voters asking them to approve a 1 percent increase in the city’s resort tax to raise the additional funds. Councilors were adamant that the increase was necessary to fund the conservation easement, therefore protecting the source of 75 percent of the city’s drinking water and securing the city’s physical access to its water intakes in Second and Third creeks in Haskill Basin. Officials predict the increase to bring in about $1 million annually toward the conservation easement.

Former Mayor Mike Jenson lead the campaign backing the easement saying the resort tax was the most viable way to fund the city’s contribution.

“This is the best thing that can happen for Whitefish,” he said at the time.

The Whitefish business community, however, was split.

Mike Gwiazdon, chief executive officer of Sportsman & Ski Haus said his business took a hit when the resort tax was first enacted and he predicted that would happen again.

“I’m not against water, but the increase in resort tax is going to be detrimental to our business,” he said.

In a mail-in election in April, about 84 percent of ballots cast were in favor of the tax hike. That high level of support for a tax increase is largely unheard of, city officials noted at the time.

This fall, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks conducted an environmental assessment of the project eventually recommending the easement to the Fish and Wildlife Commission. A connected conservation easement for 7,150 acres of land along Trumbull Creek, just northwest of Columbia Falls, is also part of the project known as the South Whitefish Range Conservation Project.

The commission approved the Haskill Basin easement Dec. 10 and the State Land Board also approved Haskill Basin on Dec. 21.

2. City Hall

The nearly century-old Whitefish City Hall building was demolished in October to make way for a new City Hall and parking structure expected to be completed in two years. A new City Hall has been part of the city’s urban renew project since 1987.

The new two-story city hall with a basement will house most the city’s departments. The brick building will feature curved archways reminiscent of the historic City Hall, along with large windows and awnings over the sidewalks.

An attached parking garage with 212 parking spaces is included in the project with the goal of easing congestion in downtown parking. The structure will also include 3,000-square-feet of retail space.

In June, council approved a $14.95 million budget for the project ­— $6.6 million for City Hall and $8.3 million for the parking structure.

For much of the year, council has wrestled with decisions relating to the design and cost of the building. Council wavered on whether to created an angled entrance to City Hall, but ultimately chose a square entrance. Whether to include an additional elevator and a third floor were also points of discussion — council chose to keep two elevators in the parking garage and one in City Hall, while designing the building to accommodate a third floor in the future.

A group led by Whitefish philanthropist Richard Atkinson raised concerns over the price tag on the new City Hall. He put in a last-minute effort to stop the project through a petition aimed at creating a ballot initiative amending city law to require a public voted on City Hall projects costing more than $3 million. The petition was ultimately rejected by the city attorney.

With work well on its way, council found out in December that a series of material increases and an accounting error put the estimate for the project about $1.7 million over budget. Council has vowed to approve a cost-cutting plan that would bring the shortfall down to $990,000, an issue council plans to tackle in the New Year.

3. Commercial activity and construction

Economic development continued to surge in Whitefish with growth in commercial construction and the opening of new businesses both large and small.

Final numbers aren’t even in for 2015 and already the city is pegged to have a stellar year for commercial construction. Through the month of November, the city issued more than $22.5 million in valuation for commercial permits. This surpasses the 2014 total and ranks it as the highest year since 2005.

Among the most prominent commercial projects to break ground this year are the two new hotels in town. Construction is ongoing at the new 86-room hotel at the corner of Second Street and Spokane Avenue, and the Hampton Inn on the Highway 93 strip. North Valley Hospital began the $1 million expansion of its Birth Center, an expansion of the O’Shaughnessy center, a new $1 million facility for Hurraw lip balm at Baker Commons, two new micro-distilleries, and a new retail building in the Railway District add to the total.

In addition, there was a $2 million in remodels at Mountain Mall to make space for Shopko and Dollar Tree. Creating a much-needed anchor for the mall, Shopko Hometown store opened inside the mall in September. The department store features clothing, home furnishings, toys, electronics and seasonal items. Discount store Dollar Tree is expected to open in early 2016 filling what was previously a restaurant at the mall.

Whitefish Mountain Resort made several improvement on and off the mountain this year, including remodeling its Summit House mountaintop lodge. The $1 million remodel includes the addition of a mezzanine level with 1,600 square feet and approximately 135 seats.

In a move that could make way for future development, the former North Valley Hospital building was removed this fall. The nearly 100,000-square-foot vacant structure was demolished with the intent of restoring the property to open green space. Riverbank Properties, LCC, which is owned by Whitefish venture capitalist Michael Goguen, puchased the 11-acre property on the corner of U.S. 93 South and East 13th Street.

4. Wildfires and drought

Much of the summer was plagued by hot and dry weather that created ripe conditions for wildfires that impacted Glacier National Park and surrounding forests.

By the end of June, typically a month with a lot of precipitation, officials were worried as a surge of hot weather was pushing through the reagion. The city closed the open buring season and cautioned against recreational fires.

On June 27, the Glacier Rim fire exploded growing to 30 acres within five hours. Firefighers were deployed tofight the fire, which started at a gravel pit near the North Fork Road near Glacier Rim, a popular access on the North Fork of the Flathead River. By July 10 the fire was contained having burned about 100 acres.

Fourth of July was quiet when fireworks were banned throughout Flathead County. The city of Whitefish initially banned private fireworks planning to allow only the Chamber of Commerce’s professional display over Whitefish Lake, but as the Fourth forecasts of hot temperatures and blowing, the fire department made the decision to ban the lake dispaly.

The Reynolds Fire was reported on July 21 about six miles east of Logan Pass. The fire, which is believed to be human caused, bloomed from the Reynolds Creek drainage and raced of the Going-to-the-Sun Road and along St. Mary Lake. The fire raged through the area closing trails and the east side of the Sun Road. The fire burned about 4,800 acres.

At the beginning of August, the Thompson Fire sparked near Thompson Creek in the upper Nyack drainage. As temperatures in the 90s and high winds continued, so did the fire, which caused the closure of all trails in the area. The Thompson-Divide complex, consisting of the Sheep and Granite Fires in the Flathead National Forest and the Thompson Fire in Glacier Park, eventually grew to about 21,000 acres combined. The Sheep Fire forced the temporary evacuation of Essex when fire officials became concerned that spot fires could ignite in the town.

The lightning-caused Marston Fire north of Whitefish sparked Aug. 11 on the steep slopes in the Fortine District of the Kootenai National Forest. The fire was part of the Northeast Kootenai Complex, which included the Sunday Fire and Barnaby Fire, eventually burning about 7,000 acres. Smoke plumes from the fire were visible from U.S. Highway 93 at Dickey Lake.

Beyond the fires, the hot and dry weather had an impact on Whitefish Lake. In Septermber the lake was near all-time low levels, exposing vast shoreliens of mud and rock, and leaving docks nearly grounded on dry land. The spring started with low snowpack levels and a serious lack of rain feeding the lake, with both contributing factors in setting what was the lowest high water elevation for the lake in the past 34 years.

5. Hospitals partner

This fall the two hospitals serving the Flathead Valley announced they would begin a new collaborative affiliation. Set to take effect Jan. 1, the partnership between North valley Hospital and Kalispell Regional Healthcare the executives say should improve access, quality and efficiency of care.

North Valley Hospital chief executive Jason Spring said when the agreement was announced that it was not a merger, but rather a move for North Valley Hospital from being independent to interdependent.

“Collaboratively, we can do that a lot better than we can independently,” Spring said at the time. “We’re working with the same population. We already share so many physicians and lots of services that we think we can be much more effective in that role than we can by trying to do it independently.”