Depot park deal raises questions

Last week, the Whitefish City Council took the first big step toward acquiring Credit Union Park in downtown Whitefish and developing the city's Baker Ave. property so it could be put on the tax rolls.

City manager Gary Marks — who told councilors he was unable to speak with them about negotiations with Park Side Federal Credit Union because of the state's "open meeting" law — called the real estate transaction "killing two birds with one stone."

Councilor Doug Adams, who joined other councilors in unanimously approving the buy-sell agreement, asked if the 1.8-acre downtown park was worth $3.8 million — or about $48.46 per square foot.

Marks replied rhetorically, asking which was more important to the city — owning 16.5 acres on Baker Ave. or preserving "the last piece of open space in downtown Whitefish."

Councilor Erik Garberg — who along with Adams and Councilor Mark Wagner will be leaving the council after this year — noted that the plan depends on the Baker Ave. property being rezoned from industrial to business. Ordinarily, the council does not readily approve rezoning, Garberg said, and doing so for a piece of its own property made the city's action appear "self-serving."

Marks' response was that the rezoning request must stand on its own merit, and that improvements elsewhere on Baker Ave. in recent years — notably The Wave, a medical clinic and several other businesses which have brought faux timber-frame-and-stone architecture to the neighborhood in a big way — show that industrial zoning is not the most beneficial use for the former gravel pit.

Mayor Andy Feury pointed out that the WB-4 zoning the city will request for the Baker Ave. property was, in fact, created at the time the city acquired the site from the state, and that the city had it in mind to rezone the property all along.

What would happen if the city did not approve its own rezoning request? That is probably not the linchpin in the development plan, but still, Adams and Garberg wanted to know what the city would do if it could not sell the 8.5 acres of Baker Ave. land it needs to sell in order to pay off Park Side for the downtown park.

Marks said the city could fall back on its stash of tax-increment financing (TIF) money, but he said he'd rather see the TIF money be used for other purposes.

An issue suggested by the council's discussion, but not directly addressed, involves Baker Ave. businesses south of the city property — a collection of metal-sided buildings, including a Quonset hut and a mini-storage unit.

None of these businesses readily meet the city's resort-city architectural standards, but they provide important services to city residents. These businesses are already threatened by the creeping gentrification that engulfed the north half of Baker Ave., but the city's action will likely hasten that advance.

In addition, rezoning industrial land for business in order to secure downtown open space and increase tax revenue contradicts the recent action of the Whitefish City-County Planning Board, which turned down a request to rezone industrial land near the Second St. East railroad crossing for a 77-home residential subdivision, despite the developers' claim they would build lower-cost housing (by Whitefish standards).

The question at hand is this — where will automotive-repair shops, wood-working shops and like businesses go? With real estate prices hitting the roof in this resort town, what is the city doing for "blue-collar business" in their long-range vision?

The answer might be found in the growth policy currently under development by the city's new planning department. The growth policy will replace the existing master plan, and it must be completed by fall 2006, but the only unzoned land in the city's planning jurisdiction is open-space outside the city limits. That land is not likely to be zoned commercial or light industrial.

Whitefish already has an affordable housing problem. Will it also soon see an "affordable repair-shop" problem, too?