The Whitefish Planning Board will review a downsized proposal to build a three-story, 81-room hotel off U.S. Highway 93 south of the Whitefish Mountain Mall.
Jordan Scott of Whitefish TP, LLC, is requesting a conditional use permit from the city to construct the new hotel on 2.66 acres of undeveloped land, located at 6361 Highway 93 S. The site would have 90 parking spaces and two driveways off a new east-west public street that would be constructed from US 93 to Whitefish Avenue. The developer is also proposing to build an outdoor pool and outdoor seating areas on both the north and south sides of the building.
Scott previously submitted plans for a TownePlace Suites by Marriott, an extended-stay hotel that offers studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites with full kitchens and separate living and sleeping areas. Scott withdrew the application in March after the planning board recommended denial of the conditional use permit. The hotel would have had 111 rooms with 115 parking spaces and would have included a zoning deviation to build up to 42 feet in height.
The current application, which is still for a Marriott but in a different location north of Les Schwab, does not include a request for a building height deviation. The proposal is compliant with the city’s growth policy and zoning regulations, according to city staff.
“The quality and functionality of the proposed development has effectively dealt with site design issues because there is adequate parking for the use, traffic circulation has been evaluated and landscaping, along with a landscaping buffer, will be installed,” a staff memo stated.
City staff is recommending approval of the hotel. The planning board will review the proposal June 15 before the city council takes on the matter at its July 5 meeting.
“The project is compatible with the neighborhood and community because design features are being implemented including, articulating the walls and roof forms making the building more interesting and reducing its mass, installing landscaping throughout the site and retaining existing trees within the site plan,” a staff memo stated.
The hotel project is the latest lodging addition in the Flathead Valley, which is already gaining 325 new rooms this year. Whitefish has two new hotels opening in 2016. The Firebrand Hotel, under construction on Second Street and Spokane Avenue in downtown, will add 86 rooms atop a 15,000-square-foot footprint. It plans to open next month. The 20,000-square-foot Hampton Inn, just south of the proposed Marriott, opened its 76-room, three-story hotel this spring.
In Columbia Falls, the Cedar Creek Lodge will be 25,000 square feet with 64 rooms and a 3,000-square-foot convention center. Its grand opening is June 21. In Kalispell, a four-story, 101-room Marriott Springhill Suites near Kidsports Complex recently opened.
The city’s planning board will also review a 12-condominium cabin neighborhood proposed off U.S. 93 W. between the U.S. Border Patrol office. Garth Boksich of GMJ LLC is requesting a conditional use permit for the development, which would be located along Nelson Lane, a private road. Within the development a private road/driveway would serve the cabins. Each cabin would have two designated parking spaces. The 11 proposed cabins are single-story and small in scale with building footprints ranging between 600-1,100 square feet. The current site plan shows the buildings fairly close together, approximately 5-10-feet. The 12th unit is the existing single family home.