Hope and Optimism for the Future of Whitefish
As we move into the final stage of developing a new vision for Whitefish, we hope the City Council will keep two important factors at the forefront: affordable housing and wildfire egress planning
By Brad Bulkley, Carolyn Pitman, Richard Hildner & Cameron Blake“It’s all over but the shouting.”
That idiom—dating back to elections in the 19th century—aptly describes the public debut of the Vision Whitefish 2045 Community Plan at the March 2 Whitefish City Council meeting.
Everyone—especially the Whitefish Planning Commission—is cheering because this three-year process is coming to an end. But some are jeering because the policy doesn’t include everything they had hoped for.
The jeering group includes every stakeholder—all of us. But that’s probably a sign of a good and effective process. After all, no one should “get” everything they want. That’s just not realistic or how the public process works.
And, like it or not, the process is essentially finished, except presumably, for some fine-tuning by the City Council. The Planning Commission listened carefully and incorporated input and ideas from residents, community groups—including ours—and highly qualified consultants about the best way to manage our growth amid many competing ideas and interests.
This process hasn’t lacked for public input, and we applaud the Planning Commission and City Council for taking their responsibility to listen earnestly to so many voices. And, the City Council is continuing to take comments.
As we move into the final stage of developing a new vision for Whitefish, we hope the City Council will keep two important factors at the forefront: affordable housing and wildfire egress planning.
Density alone is not the answer to affordable housing
It’s been said many times in this process that density alone is not the answer. Truer words were never spoken.
More housing doesn’t necessarily equate to affordable housing, or housing that meets our community’s needs. Nor does it necessarily achieve our goals for home ownership.
Mountain Gateway—a prime example of an overtly aggressive, ill-conceived development plan— showed us that the market/development community is not the answer. Affordability won’t come from a token number of deed-restricted units included as part of a massive development just to sway approval.
Addressing the affordable housing issue will require innovative thinking on zoning and land use, potential city subsidies and investments, and perhaps changes to the Whitefish resort tax. It also involves promoting philanthropy and establishing long-term partnerships between the city and various community organizations with a vested interest in finding a workable solution. Additionally, stronger control of short-term rentals (STRs) is essential because the proliferation of STRs has worsened—and will continue to worsen—the affordability problem.
Flathead Families for Responsible Growth stands ready to do its part.
A wildfire egress plan is critical
Whitefish desperately needs a comprehensive and well-communicated wildfire egress plan as part of the promised Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The situation is dire; we are moving closer to an inevitable wildfire every day. Residents and visitors need to know what to do and where to go before it begins.
Fire egress alone is a strong argument for resisting increased density in certain areas of the city. Aggressive development with inadequate emergency egress (e.g. north of the viaduct) will ultimately end in an avoidable tragedy.
Last, and very importantly, as the City Council completes its work, the real shouting needs to stop. We owe it to them and to the Planning Commission, who have both worked tirelessly to get us to this point. We are a community that has always arrived at answers working together amicably, and we must honor that legacy.
This process has been unnecessarily contentious. Disagreement is healthy. But at times, it has descended to ridicule, which is cruel and harmful. And this isn’t the time to introduce fatally biased and poorly conceived research studies. It’s disingenuous. A sound direction has already been established.
As Daniel Sidder, executive director of Housing Whitefish, commented at the March 2 meeting, it’s imperative that we begin talking about this plan and our community with hope and optimism. Whitefish is the last best place in the Last Best Place. The Planning Commission’s and the City Council’s conscientious work will help keep us there.