Council is two for two on urgency ordinances

The Whitefish City Council enacted two urgency ordinances during a busy April 5 meeting.

The council voted 5-1 to amend the current urgency ordinance that places a moratorium on medical marijuana businesses within the city limits and within one mile of the city limits. Councilor Ryan Friel voted in opposition.

The amended ordinance, which went into effect immediately and will expire on June 6, no longer exempts caregivers who provide medical marijuana for up to three patients.

All medical marijuana businesses are prohibited so city planners can investigate the effects of the new industry and come up with appropriate regulations, but the three-month deadline for city planners to complete the proposed regulations was also removed.

The Whitefish City-County Planning Board has held two workshops and one public hearing on the subject, and it has taken public input at all those meetings. It will take up the subject again on Thursday, April 15 (tonight), at 6 p.m.

Five people addressed the council during the public hearing. Billings attorney and Yellowstone County judge Carl DeBelly Jr. noted that the last time he was here, the Whitefish City-County Planning Board appeared to be making progress toward zoning medical marijuana businesses.

"Then what happened?" he asked.

Friel echoed that point, noting that when the process started, it was an "adult conversation" on zoning, but it "morphed" into something else — Whitefish as the "moral compass' of the country.

The second urgency ordinance places a moratorium on temporary food vending in downtown Whitefish. The current year-old vending ordinance has proved contentious. Richard Kramer, owner of Casey's Bar and Red Caboose Diner, has been a persistent critic of the ordinance, arguing that he is losing business as a result of sidewalk food sales at night.

Mayor Mike Jenson broke a 3-3 vote in favor of the moratorium. Councilors Chris Hyatt, Turner Askew and Bill Kahle were in favor, and councilors Friel, John Muhlfeld and Phil Mitchell were opposed.

The councilors agreed that their intent is not to completely eliminate the temporary vending ordinance established last year but to revise it. However, Muhlfeld's friendly amendment to place a six-month window on amending the existing regulations died for lack of a second.

Askew said the city planning department was short on staff and couldn't finish the work in six months, even though Muhlfeld and Hyatt agreed to work on the ordinance.

"It's like a committee building a camel," Askew said.

Mitchell said he wanted to see the entire ordinance opened up, not just food or the items Muhlfeld said he and Hyatt were slated to work on.