Hold the confetti. Whitefish City Council decided to wait until its next regular meeting on April 20 to adopt the much-anticipated, toil-filled, controversy-laden growth policy update. 

Mayor John Muhlfeld was absent so Deputy Mayor Frank Sweeney ran the meeting April 6. Only five people gave public comment about the growth policy before the public hearing on the matter was closed. 

The Council addressed a letter from State Sen. Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula, the primary sponsor of SB 243, that included her concerns about Whitefish putting conditions on projects that restrict the new 60-foot building allowance downtown. Her interpretation was that the city was attempting to evade the new law. 

To appease the senator, two sections were stricken from the plan. One concerned the form of buildings downtown and the other, the sub districting of downtown. Thomas Eddington, czb consultant, recommended the changes. 

Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacobs reminded the Council that the plan is not a regulatory document and cautioned about getting too detailed regarding mass requirements. 

“We have a representative from Missoula .... telling us that we need to back off of what the people of our town have been telling us for years and years about what we want to do with our downtown,” Councilor Steve Qunell said.  

After the Council reviewed several pages of Vision Whitefish 2045, Councilor Andy Feury suggested the group wait for its next meeting to adopt the plan, so they may have a clean copy of the document, and the mayor would be in attendance. 

THE COUNCIL voted unanimously to award a construction contract to Knife River for nearly $7 million for the Armory Road reconstruction project. 

The road is the next project on the resort tax priority list. Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman said the road has surface concerns, lacks bike and pedestrian amenities and sees significant school traffic. 

He said the bid includes two additive alternates, the repaving of Peregrine Lane and the removal of the bridge over Cow Creek and the expansion of the nearby sidewalk. 

A pocket park is planned, with a railing around the creek and concrete replacing the existing asphalt.  

“We would like to put in a pocket park where the path would have connected to the bridge because it’s still a nice area next to the creek,” Parks and Recreation Director Maria Butts said.  

Knife River was the only company that submitted a bid but, at $6,873,376 it was 2.5% below the engineers’ estimate.  

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.