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Public Hearing Scheduled for RV Park in Whitefish

By Beacon Staff

The Whitefish City Council has decided to schedule another public hearing to address a proposal from the owners of The Lodge at Whitefish Lake to allow Class A motor coach parking for up to seven months. Current zoning regulations allow recreational vehicles to stay on residential lots for no longer than 30 days. The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 1 at City Hall.

The proposal would be an amendment to the previously approved Viking Creek development. The development includes a 32-room guest lodge, a skywalk over Wisconsin Avenue connecting the lodge to the main hotel and a 17-lot residential area located north of the Crestwood neighborhood.

Also, Viking Creek has garnered particular attention for handing over about 30 acres of sensitive habitat to the Whitefish Lake Institute for conservation. The Lodge’s owners – Dan, Sean and Brian Averill – have also pledged $110,000 to wetlands restoration. Both developers and environmentalists have praised the project, which broke ground on June 30.

In a change from the original Planned Unit Development, Dan Averill is seeking to allow the owners of Class A motor coaches to stay up to seven months per calendar year on Viking Creek’s residential lots.

Class A motor coaches are large, top-of-the-line motor homes that are often used as summer residences. A Class A motor coach park is in the works in Polson called the Polson Motorcoach and RV Resort.

Under the proposed amendment, the residential lots would eventually offer both a motor coach parking space and an accompanying home. During a Dec. 7 public hearing, the city council raised multiple concerns over the proposal, prompting a vote to table the issue until its next meeting on Jan. 4.

At the December meeting, the council directed the Averills to address five areas of concern and questions before Jan. 4. The council asked that the applicant clarify if the motor coach parking spaces and proposed homes are available for overnight or weekly rentals, or if they’re owner occupied.

The Averills were also directed to clarify the timeline regarding when a home needs to be built on the lots and provide a revised landscaping plan to further buffer a nearby neighborhood and Wisconsin Avenue.

Lastly, the council asked the Averills to consider restricting motor coach parking on a lot until it is sold and to provide the council with a copy of the draft conditions, covenants and restrictions.

For the Jan. 4 meeting, city planning staff prepared a report containing the applicants’ responses. Considering the extent of the proposed changes, the council decided to schedule another public hearing. There was also concern over making a decision in the first meeting for three new councilors – Bill Kahle, Chris Hyatt and Phil Mitchell.

The public hearing will be held at the Whitefish City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 1 at 7:10 p.m. at City Hall.