Bigfork plans for downtown parking lot

Plans for additional parking in downtown Bigfork have begun a slow march forward following the Bigfork Center of the Performing Arts’ purchase of a 0.8-acre plot of land on the north side of Grand Avenue to be renovated for public parking.

Funded largely by the Bigfork Community Development Foundation Trust, the performing arts center and the Community For a Better Bigfork, the $1.3 million project is set to take its first step March 29 in a hearing with the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee.

Proposed plans for the finished lot portray a two-tiered paved lot of around 75 parking spaces, with 50 on the bottom tier and 25 on the top with a ramp connecting the two.

Once completed, the lot will provide free, well-lit and camera-monitored public parking, effectively doubling the current spaces available in the downtown area.

Bigfork Center of the Performing Arts board member and project leader Walter Kuhn said he began making efforts to purchase the property about two years ago.

Though Kuhn said the project would likely take a few years to complete and will not completely solve the parking issue downtown, Kuhn said it’s a start.

“This is a huge step in the right direction,” he said.

“It will have, hopefully, a positive economic effect on the businesses in downtown Bigfork and help out the theater also.”

The lot is currently under county commercial retail resort zoning, but must be re-designated as a B-3 community business zone to allow for a parking lot without a connected building, according to Community For a Better Bigfork President Paul Mutascio.

Following the advisory committee meeting next week, the plans must also be reviewed by the Flathead County Planning board and ultimately approved by the county commissioners.

Kuhn estimated the total renovation of the property — including surveying, engineering, layout design, grading, implementation of drainage, curb gutters, lighting and security cameras, paving and landscaping — will take between three and four years to complete once the project is approved and will cost around $250,000.

Kuhn said a parking garage is not being considered for the property, which he said would prove unnecessarily expensive and would contrast harshly with the overall character of Bigfork.

The lot would be maintained year-round by the performing arts center, which Kuhn said would benefit most from the new lot.

The buildings now standing on the property, Blush Salon and Bigfork Frame Shop, eventually will be removed. Kuhn expects the buildings will remain on the property for at least another year, and he is working with the owners of both businesses to find suitable spaces to relocate during that time.

According to Mutascio, the landowners on both sides of the lot have expressed their full support of the project, and neither Mutascio nor Kuhn said they expected any pushback or negative feedback on the project going forward.

“Parking has always been an issue in Bigfork,” Kuhn said. “When somebody drives around downtown and can’t find a parking spot, what are you going to do? You’re going to drive right through.”

The performing arts center attracts thousands of visitors every year, and though it can seat over 400 people, Kuhn said it claims only five or six allotted parking spots on Electric Avenue.

Additional parking, he said, would benefit businesses such as the theater that would like to accommodate more customers as well as tourists and locals wanting to take part in summer activities downtown.

Going forward, Kuhn will work on behalf of the performing arts center along with Mutascio and the Community For a Better Bigfork and Larry Jochim with the Bigfork Community Development Foundation Trust to continue fundraising for the project and its continued progress.

All donations toward the project will be tax-deductible and should be made to the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts and designated for the parking lot.

“It’s going to happen,” Mutascio said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. There is so much opportunity back there, and we want to make sure it’s done right.”

The March 29 hearing before the advisory committee will begin at 4 p.m. at Bethany Lutheran Church and will provide members of the community to voice their support or opposition to the project.

For questions or concerns, contact County Planner Donna Valade at dvalade@flathead.mt.gov.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.