Page 63 - Flathead Living // Spring 2015

proposals never got off the ground.
In June 2013, developer Orlan Sorensen proposed building an $11.9 mil- lion hotel on the corner of East Second Street and Spokane Avenue but failed to procure funding. The Averills secured a contract to purchase Lot 46 and Sean took the reins on formulating a hotel pro-
posal. Funding has been lined up. Neighbors and other residents raised concerns about a hotel’s impact on park- ing, traffic and the downtown core’s his- toric character. Averill modified plans to allay some of the worries, and the Whitefish planning board and city coun- cil implemented a host of conditions to
further address concerns.
On Feb. 2, the city council unani-
mously approved the project 5-0 with recommended conditions, which deal with parking, traffic, storm water drain- age and more, including a prohibition against franchising. The hotel will offer 67 parking spots, and Averill says its design will fit into the surroundings.
“We want to make it look like it’s been there for 50 years, like a historical land- mark,” he says.
Last June, the city council unani- mously approved Averill’s Second Street residential subdivision. The proposal was a scaled-down version of previous iter- ations that had come under fire from neighbors. Earlier versions had proposed 174 units, then 150 and then 143, though the outcry remained strong enough that Averill and partner Will MacDonald shelved the project in September 2013.
Much of the community pushback was in response to the project’s apartment stipulations. The majority of the units in the earlier proposals were apartments, and residents worried about density and public safety issues.
The smaller version adopted by coun- cil has vastly reduced both density and the potential for apartment space, with 62 lots divided into 54 single-family lots and eight townhouse lots on 23.78 acres of land. Averill and MacDonald have set aside land for a Whitefish Lake Institute nature preserve, similar to the conser- vation easement arrangement at Viking Creek. Averill expects to begin building roads this spring.
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Averill’s one proposal that hasn’t yet
SPRING 2015 | FLATHEAD LIVING 61