A proposal by Sweet Peaks Ice Cream to operate an ice cream manufacturing facility and retail store on U.S. 93 S. in Whitefish is the focus of a public hearing Thursday before the Whitefish Planning Board.

The popular Whitefish-based ice cream business is seeking a conditional-use permit to create the facility in an existing building commercial at 6588 U.S. 93 S., in the former Best Bet Casino and Dos Amigos restaurant, which has been vacant for some time. It’s located at the intersection of U.S. 93 and 13th Street, north of Safeway.

Light manufacturing is a conditional use in that secondary business zoning district.

The property owner, listed as EMAC Investments LLC of Whitefish on the application, will remodel the building and façade, add landscaping and provide indoor and outdoor seating for ice cream patrons, according to the Whitefish Planning Office staff report. There is also additional room for manufacturing expansion, as well as an additional commercial tenant space within the building.

The proposed site plan shows 48 parking spaces. Based on the uses proposed and potential future use of the tenant space as retail, only 23 spaces are required: 11 for the restaurant, six for the manufacturing and storage facilities, and six for the future tenant.

“Without a doubt, Sweet Peaks Ice Cream will feel like downtown Whitefish, added to an otherwise box store theme shopping district,” the applicant responded to a question about how the proposal is compatible with the neighborhood in terms of bulk, scale and density. “This is much needed at the true ‘entrance’ to downtown, and this will set the precedent that small local businesses can also thrive outside of downtown.”

Sweet Peaks Ice Cream was founded in 2010 by Sam Dauenhauer and Marissa Keenan, and the ice cream’s popularity has prompted the addition of a number of other retail outlets through the years. A year after the first shop opened in downtown Whitefish, a seasonal Bigfork shop opened and Kalispell received a Main Street location in 2012, according to the Sweet Peaks website. The business expanded to Missoula in 2014, and by 2016, a Sweet Peaks store had opened in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, followed by a store in Bozeman in 2017. A Spokane store opened in 2018.

The Whitefish Planning Board meets at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers at Whitefish City Hall, 418 E. Second St. The board’s decision will be forwarded to the Whitefish City Council for a final vote on July 6.

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