Looking Back: Update to Master Plan approved
Whitefish Pilot | UPDATED 5 days, 13 hours AGO
Rick Daily of hte Whitefish public school district's maintenance team worked ot clear the heavy and dangerous ice from the high school roof in the midst of a thaw in 1986. The roof gets the axe at least twice a winter when the ice builds up and becomes a danger and poential cause of leaks. (Steve Schunk photo)
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
Feb. 12, 1976
Participants in the Grand Parade were judged in four different categories, floats, music, costumes and horses. Moose's Saloon won the Sweepstakes Trophy by showing a film history of the U.S. entitled “The Destiny Makers,” using a 1915 touring bus and 35-foot trailer. The award for Best Costume Group went to all the costume participants on the Penguins float. Whitefish High School Band won first place honors in the best school band category. First place in the best single horse and rider was won by Bill Fratt on a Morgan stallion from Kalispell dressed as Teton Abe. Amy Knuth, driving a sleigh for the first time in the parade, won first place in the best single horse and sleigh category. Her pony, Scoot, had been in all the Winter Carnival parades.
40 Years Ago
Feb. 12, 1986
Competition for the consumer's dollar was causing a fierce war in the Flathead and prices slid into double digits. While prices for crude oil have fallen to about $16 per barrel, local retailers said gas prices were artificially low and the businesses can't make money. Unleaded was selling for only 94.9 cents a gallon at the Mini Mart and Town Pump in Whitefish. Regular was four cents higher. “There is a gas war in this town,” said Bob Worley of the Husky Station in Whitefish. He dropped his prices six cents last week to stay competitive with other retailers.
30 Years Ago
Feb. 8, 1996
County and city officials approved an updated version of the Whitefish City County/County Master Plan, despite protests by a dozen Big Mountain land owners. The Master Plan is essentially a blueprint suggesting how the Whitefish areas should grow physically, socially, economically and environmentally until 2020. Its jurisdiction extends roughly 4.5 miles beyond city limits. Both city and county governments must consider the intentions of the plan before ruling on land issues. Property owners adjoining Big Mountain lobbied for more than an hour during the meeting. The landowners balked at document language designating their property as it as “environmentally sensitive” and/or important timberlands.”
20 Years Ago
Feb. 9, 2006
The city workers discovered a leak in the water main that crosses the BNSF Railway tracks just west of the Baker Avenue viaduct on Jan. 6, they knew they had a serious problem. “This was a really big deal,” Publics Works Director John Wilson said. “We only have two eight-inch lines bringing water across the tracks from our reservoir in Haskell Basin to the rest of the city south of the tracks. Both water lines began decades ago as cast iron pipes laid beneath the busy BNSF main line. The one at Texas Avenue was slated for replacement with an 18-inch plastic pipe. About $600,000 in state grant funding was lined up for the Texas Avenue project, but construction was delayed from 2006 to 2007 to avoid costly summertime bidding, Wilson said.
10 Years Ago
Feb. 10, 2016
Whitefish was investigating whether it should establish a climate action plan in an attempt to reduce the city's carbon footprint. City Council studied the option while also considering a similar plan involving the whole North Valley. A climate action plan is a set of strategies aimed at reducing the city's environmental impact and increasing energy efficiency. Two years ago, the council put the item on its goals list. “I think this is the time to get going with this plan,” Councilor Pam Barber said. “There's really good momentum on t and we should capitalize on that.”