Most public comments made during a housing growth policy meeting last week argued for loosening zoning restrictions.  

The meeting began with a presentation of the housing element of Vision Whitefish 2045.  

The city's long-range planner Alan Tiefenbach said that the housing element’s six goals are increasing supply, supporting a range of types and prices, supporting existing property maintenance, offering financing strategies, fostering partnerships such as with Housing Whitefish, and making sure that the housing element aligns with other parts of the growth policy. 

“We want to make sure our longstanding policies like promoting density, reducing car trips, supporting walkable neighborhoods, and prioritizing infills, are captured in the housing element,” Tiefenbach said. 

Revising zoning and development standards is a simpler objective that the city could do, as 77% of zoning only allows single-family residential, he said. 

During public comment, Marissa Getts, director of Whitefish Housing Authority, likened housing to cars.  

“The way that ‘community character’ feeds into our current policy, specifically prioritizing single family homes, is essentially telling people that if they want to live in Whitefish, they have to own the Bugatti version of a home,” Getts said. “That’s quite frankly extremely economically exclusionary and also economically violent, that we are not allowing for the Honda Civic of housing to be built.” 

Getts said that when working with placing families with housing vouchers, she sends them to Columbia Falls.  

“The city doesn’t have to do it all,” Getts said. “If we loosen restrictions, people can leverage their funding and do it on their own.” 

Daniel Sidder, director of Housing Whitefish, that the city should be a guide and not a gatekeeper. 

Sidder said a scalable system is needed and that it starts with setting the stage with regulatory standards.  

“The goals are there but it comes down to implementation in zoning that will allow for diverse housing. We want neighbors to be developers... if we think about it as people in the community developing, that feels a lot better than somebody coming to develop 200 apartments because they have the capital. 

“We need to set the conditions so that somebody can walk into City Hall and say, I want to subdivide my lot, and then they can walk out with the process done.”  

Whitefish resident Mack Fai said that homeowners can indeed be a part of the solution. 

“I was trying to build a home with a duplex, where I live in one part, and rent out the other, and I came across some zoning regulations that were frankly stupid,” Fai said. “I was trying to help the situation, and it’s difficult.”  

Kim Morisaki with Northwest Montana Community Land Trust said that Eastside Brick in Kalispell is a well-loved example.  

“A little bit of innovative thinking would allow us to see a great deal of variety in traditional neighborhoods,” Morisaki said. “We need to use all the tools in the toolbox, and that includes community land trusts, deed restriction and ADUs.”

Avery Sorensen, with the Whitefish Youth Council, said, “We are disappointed at the repeated appearance of could, should or would, rather than will... and how that will affect our livelihood and ability to return to the city we grew up in.” 

With support from over 50 signatures from fellow Whitefish High School students, Sorensen requested unanimous mixed-use developments, limited setbacks, expanded building heights, limited setbacks, taller buildings, prioritized green spaces and rezoning for densification. 

“When examining the future, there are two roles,” Sorensen said. “In one, we do not take the necessary drastic measures we need and instead prioritize the aesthetics of Whitefish. While physically Whitefish will be the same, it will no longer be the same because we will lose the culture of the people who make Whitefish as great as it is today.” 

Dan Moe, owner of Cutthroat Bagel Co., said, “I see a lack of understanding of employing the service industry, and what it takes to have a vibrant character and food community downtown. 

“You’re getting to a point where it’s only the people sitting in the restaurants who can afford to get there... the bubble will burst.” 

Resident Nathan Dugan added, “Needing subsidy for 80% of the homes that we have to build... is not possible and we need to find other ways to do this.” 

Resident Jamie Goguen said that, as with philanthropy, it’s important to have a good investment strategy.  

“Density can look beautiful if we maintain green spaces. It can feel connected and you can still retreat to your privacy,” she said. “There are a lot of partnership opportunities. Please be bold.”

Resident Terry Marasco said that the average school principal could not afford a home in Whitefish, let alone teachers. He said that the curriculum goals outlined at a state education conference he attended, “can’t happen without teachers attaining a livable wage and affordable housing.”

Resident Paul McCann said that more emphasis should be put on helping people own homes rather than renting.  

Resident Rhonda Fitzgerald said that homeownership “is the missing piece.”   

Residents also suggested tax abatements and turning a few acres of the golf course into housing.  

The Planning Commission did not yet discuss the public comments. The comments will be used to further inform a narrative section of the housing element draft, Tiefenbach said.  

Thereafter, the matter will continue with additional opportunity for public comment on the housing element at the next meeting Jan. 7.