Developers looking to build a subdivision along East Second Street received unanimous approval from the Whitefish City Council at its June 2 meeting, approximately nine months after withdrawing a larger project that came under fire from neighborhood residents.
Will MacDonald and Sean Averill of Community Infill Partners have received the green light on a scaled-down version of a building plan that allows the suburban development to move forward.
In pitching their fourth revised proposal in a year, MacDonald and Averill said they want to establish a 62-lot subdivision featuring 54 single-family lots and eight townhouse lots on 23.78 acres of land on the east side of Whitefish. The targeted site, located at 100 Wild Rose Lane east of Memorial Park on the north side of the East Second Street and Armory Road intersection, has two homes situated on an open field within city limits.
The developers asked the city to rezone the property from an agriculture district to an “estate residential district,” which would allow for more single-family, large-tract housing that is typically found in suburban areas. MacDonald and Averill also asked for approval of a planned unit development (PUD) that would overlay the subdivision and outline the details of the project.
Previous versions of the development came under heavy scrutiny from residents who complained that the proposed subdivision would be too dense and create neighborhood and public safety issues. As a result, the developers reduced the plan from 174 units, including 164 apartments, to 150 units with 112 apartments, and then again to 143 units with 92 apartments.
But the proposal still ran into strong pushback and led the group to withdraw the overall proposal last September.
The new plan reduces the potential for large apartment space. It also does not seek an increased “density bonus” that would have required the subdivision to feature affordable housing options.
The group is proposing to set aside 30 percent of the site, or 7.13 acres, for open space. This is less than previous amounts, which reached as much as 70 percent. The new proposal includes a “tot lot,” a half-court basketball court and a series of trails that would wind throughout the site. The project would also create a stream and wetland buffer as an open space parkland that would be dedicated to the city, according to the city’s staff report.
As part of the PUD, a new city right-of- would extend Armory Road to the north to serve the subdivision. As part of the developers’ application, a traffic impact study was conducted and found that the new housing would have little impact on the surrounding road system, according to the city’s staff report.