Determined to complete a critical section of the Whitefish River Trail near Kay Beller Park, the Whitefish City Council recently approved an agreement with a developer to navigate around a permitting impasse that had brought progress on the pedestrian path to a standstill. Completion of the trail has been held up for decades over a number of issues, including uncertainty about the exact location of an easement granted to the city for the path project.
One section of trail that has proven problematic is situated in the Riverbend Trail and Miles Avenue area north of Kay Beller Park, which ends with a set of stairs, and an unmarked crossing of Highway 93 between the Whitefish Community Center and Miles Avenue. As Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman has explained, a previously existing boardwalk deteriorated to the point that it was deconstructed, and the existence of the easement was forgotten.
In May, the city directed staff to apply for a Stream Protection Act 124 permit to construct the section of the Whitefish River Trail near the Riverbend Condominiums. Meanwhile, another adjacent section of the future trail, the completion of which was included in 2021 as a condition of approval for condos built to the north of the Riverbend Condominiums at 28 Miles Ave., has been halted by the inability of developer Miles Whitefish Investment LLC to obtain the necessary permit approval from the Flathead Conservation District.
As City Attorney Angela Jacobs told the council during a Sept. 16 presentation, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the state agency which has stream permitting authority, views the two separate path construction proposals as a single project. The stage agency has indicated that it might have more leeway in approving the necessary permits for the more recent path construction proposal if the city submitted a permit application to the Flathead Conservation District.
Crafted as a solution to break the administrative deadlock, the agreement effectively transfers the responsibility for building the section of path and its construction costs from Miles Whitefish LLC to the city of Whitefish in exchange for payments from the developer totaling $204,362.50, which is equivalent to the bid the developer received for the project in 2023. By the time the city is ready to move forward with construction, the costs will likely go up. Jacobs noted that city governments tend to receive higher bids than private businesses, something Councilor Andy Feury summarized during a brief discussion about the deal, saying that the only downside is an elevated cost of construction.
The area in question is a high priority in the city’s Connect Whitefish Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. After decades of permitting snags holding up the trail’s completion, Jacobs jokingly remarked that she hopes it can be completed before she retires.
The agreement is also expected to free up the potential sale of the new condominiums constructed by Miles Whitefish Investment, for which the city has not issued a certificate of occupancy because the developer’s inability to get approval for the bike and pedestrian path has left them out of compliance with their conditional use permit.
The city will receive staggered payments coinciding with the sale of the condominiums, but Jacobs said that the deal ultimately calls for the developer to pay whatever is outstanding by the time the city is ready to move forward with construction.