Whitefish eyes upgrades to City Beach parking, sewer station

Improvements at Whitefish Lake City Beach are in the works, with the Whitefish City Council on track to approve more than $368,000 in parking-lot and life-station improvements at tonight’s meeting.

The council will vote on a staff recommendation to award a low bid of $368,245 to Watson Excavating.

The city historically has had an issue with parking congestion at City Beach. In an effort to increase parking, the city purchased the lot at 55 Woodland Place four years ago and now has a plan to develop a parking lot and make the sewer system lift-station improvements at the same time, according to the city manager’s staff report to the council.

City staff has been working with TD&H on both projects. The selected alternative for parking will add 24 additional parking spots along Woodland Place Drive and create a non-motorized watercraft staging area using the vacant lot.

Regarding the sewer improvements, access to the City Beach lift station “is difficult at best,” the council report said. In order to remove a pump from the lift state for routine maintenance, heavy equipment must be hauled down a dirt path.

The proposed project will improve access to the station by constructing a small utility drive, allowing service vehicles to access the station from Skyles Avenue.

The council will hold a work session from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. to hear about an annual management plan, fiscal-year 2020 budget request and memorandum of understanding from the Whitefish Lake Institute.

From 6:30 to 7 p.m. the council will talk about the Central Avenue street reconstruction project.

The regular council meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. Both the work session and meeting will be held at Whitefish City Hall.