Mayor & City Council

WHITEFISH CITY COUNCIL November 21, 2022 SPECIAL SESSION AT 6:15 P.M. 1) Call to Order The meeting was held in-person in the Council Conference Room. Mayor Muhlfeld called the meeting to order. Councilors present were Davis, Qunell, Feury, and Councilors Caltabiano,. Councilors Sweeney and Norton. were absent. Staff present were City Manager Smith, City Clerk Howke and Planning and Building Director Taylor 2) Interview City Council interviewed incumbents Ben Johnson for the Whitefish Housing Authority, Whitney Beckham for the Planning Board, and also new applicant Antonia Malchik for the Board of Park Commissioners and Dakota Whitman for the Climate Action Plan Standing Committee. 3) Public Comment None 4) Appointment Mayor Muhlfeld re-appointed Ben Johnson to the Whitefish Housing Authority, ratified by Council. Mayor Muhlfeld re-appointed Whitney Beckham to the Planning Board, ratified by Council. Mayor Muhlfeld appointed Antonia Malchik to the Board of Park Commissioners, ratified by Council. 5) Adjourn Mayor Muhlfeld adjourned the meeting at 6:55 p.m. and opened the regular meeting at 7:10 p.m. /s/John Muhlfeld Mayor Muhlfeld Attest: /s/Michelle Howke Michelle Howke, Whitefish City Clerk  WHITEFISH CITY COUNCIL November 21, 2022 7:00 P.M. 1) CALL TO ORDER Mayor Muhlfeld called the meeting to order. Councilors present were Qunell, Feury, Caltabiano, Davis, Sweeney, and Norton. City Staff present were, City Clerk Howke, City Manager Smith, Finance Director Gospodarek, Planning and Building Director Taylor, Public Works Director Workman, Deputy Police Chief Conway, Fire Chief Page, Senior Planner Compton-Ring, and Long-Range Planner Tiefenbach. Approximately 7 people were in the audience and 2 attended virtually. 2) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Muhlfeld asked Wendy Compton-Ring to lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3) COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC– (This time is set aside for the public to comment on items that are either on the agenda, but not a public hearing or on items not on the agenda. City officials do not respond during these comments but may respond or follow-up later on the agenda or at another time. The mayor has the option of limiting such communications to three minutes depending on the number of citizens who want to comment and the length of the meeting agenda) Mayre Flowers, Citizens for a Better Flathead, spoke towards written public comment she forwarded to City Clerk Howke, prior to the meeting which included a petition representing concerns of 327 Whitefish residents regarding the agenda item that was postponed from the November 7th Public Hearing, known as the WB-T Transitional Business District. She stated the public sees Whitefish as a leader in the community. They are looking to Whitefish to find solutions that can help look at ways to address concerns that Whitefish has. These are issues that are repeated in other communities in the valley. The community can learn and grow from Whitefish getting it right. This petition is an encouragement by citizens of Whitefish, visitors, and citizens of Columbia Falls and Kalispell, who see the highway corridors as entrances to our communities. She encourages the Council to look at the opportunity that is there to try something new. The letter and petition are appended to the November 21, 2022 Council packet on the website. 4) COMMUNICATIONS FROM VOLUNTEER BOARDS Councilor Qunell reported the Planning Board held the Public Hearing for the Snow Lot project which will be coming to the Council at the December 5, 2022 meeting. Councilor Feury made a motion, seconded by Councilor Sweeney to reconsider November 7, 2022 agenda item 10a), Ordinance adding a new Chapter 18, to Title 2, of the Whitefish City Code to establish the Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan Standing Committee. The motion carried. Councilor Feury made a motion, seconded by Councilor Sweeney, to move to table for discussion after the scheduled Consent Agenda this evening. The motion carried. 5) CONSENT AGENDA (The consent agenda is a means of expediting routine matters that require the Council’s action. Debate does not typically occur on consent agenda items. Any member of the Council may remove any item for debate. Such items will typically be debated and acted upon prior to proceeding to the rest of the agenda. Ordinances require 4 votes for passage – Section 1-6-2 (E)(3) WCC) a) Minutes from November 7, 2022 Special Meeting (p.33) b) Minutes from November 7, 2022 Regular Meeting (p.34) c) Consideration of a recommendation for confirmation of Police Officer Austin Hicks pursuant to MCA §7-32-4113 (p.40)  CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 21, 2022 Councilor Sweeney made a motion, seconded by Councilor Qunell to approve the Consent Agenda. Councilor Norton had corrections to the November 7, 2022 Special meeting minutes; Councilor Feury made a motion, seconded by Councilor Caltabiano to extend Don Harring, Whitefish Lake, and Lakeshore Protection Committee, for another two-year term; and to the November 7, 2022 Regular meeting minutes; regressive tax on our workers and residents; and Whitefish want’s wants to be a walking and biking town. The motion to approve the Consent Agenda as corrected carried. 6) Ordinance No. 22-__; An Ordinance adding a new Chapter 18, to Title 2, of the Whitefish City Code to establish the Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan Standing Committee (First Reading) Councilor Feury made a motion, seconded by Councilor Sweeney to approve Ordinance No. 22-16; An Ordinance adding a new Chapter 18, to Title 2, of the Whitefish City Code to establish the Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan Standing Committee (First Reading). Councilor Feury stated this committee has a function. The committee is a broad group of people from throughout the community representing the mountain, the WCVB and the City. It is a group that doesn’t normally get together to deal with tourism. In a few years, the Climate Action Plan Committee and the Sustainable Tourism Management Plan Stand Committee could meld together to deal with sustainability as a whole. The two are very related. Councilor Sweeney stated it is important given the nature of this particular issue that we have a standing committee. This committee will address and keep Council’s attention on these issues and to be charged with bringing ideas on how to better manage this issue. Councilor Norton supports this plan, and it does go out to all different areas of our city. The goal of the committee is to help us become good stewards and maintain our town’s livability and plan for climate change. The motion to approve Ordinance No. 20-16 carried on a 5-1 vote, Councilor Caltabiano voting in opposition. 6)7) PUBLIC HEARINGS (Items will be considered for action after public hearings) (Resolution No. 07-33 establishes a 30-minute time limit for applicant’s land use presentations. Ordinances require 4 votes for passage – Section 1-6-2 (E)(3) WCC)) a) Ordinance No. 22-__; An Ordinance amending the Whitefish City Code to add Article Y, Chapter 2, Title 11, to establish the WB-T zoning district (Business Transitional District), as an implementation of the Highway 93 South Corridor Plan (First Reading) (POSTPONED FROM 11/07/2022, PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED) (p.42) Director Taylor presented his staff report from the November 7th Council meeting that is provided in the packet on the website. Staff received five letters from the public since November 16th that are appended to the packet on the website. Council shared concerns if somebody is annexed and they choose a permitted use, how can the city require the applicant to build a frontage or backage road; and this district is proposing to be the highest density residential district in town. Public Works Director Workman stated the City does not have jurisdiction over Highway 93 or Highway 40. The City does not have the right to approve or deny future access onto Highway 93 or Highway 40. Councilor Norton asked, and Director Taylor stated Whitefish was based on Euclidean form of zoning, but over time Whitefish has added more Form-Based elements to our zoning. The Architectural Review has form- based standards, specific standards for non-residential uses, and multi-family uses that add form-based elements. 2  CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 21, 2022 Councilor Feury asked, and Director Workman stated the County septic rules require connection within 200 feet. There is a variance where a cost estimate that shows the cost to extend services is more than three times the cost to connect to city services. Councilor Norton made a motion, seconded by Councilor Qunell to approve Ordinance No. 22-17. Councilor Norton stated this has been difficult and confusing. Council has tried in the past to initiate cooperation with the County to design this area. She supports this because we need to step forward. The benefits of this will give the City control of the water quality standards, analyze traffic patterns, and control buffers to protect the neighborhoods. She does think commercial is going to happen because it already has commercial. The primary reason why she supports this is we need housing, and she doesn’t think it is too far out from the downtown. It is difficult to build in city limits because of existing neighborhoods. Councilor Qunell made a motion, seconded by Councilor Norton to move all permitted uses under section 11-2Y-2 to conditional uses. Councilor Qunell stated this will allow when the city is petitioned for annexation, the applicant will need to come back to the City with a plan that can be conditioned to require easements for access roads, etc. The City’s current annexation policy does not allow us to have those kinds of conditions. Director Taylor stated he has concerns making home occupations, daycares, public utility buildings and publicly owned or operated buildings be required to go through the conditional use process. The motion carried 5-1, Councilor Caltabiano voting in opposition. After some discussion the Council has concerns of what the goal is for this district. Councilor Feury asked, and Director Taylor stated after annexation is approved, the zoning would be adopted and in place before we know what the development rights are. Councilor Norton withdrew her motion to approve, Councilor Qunell who seconded the original motion agreed. Councilor Qunell made a motion, seconded by Councilor Norton to postpone to February 6th. Council directs staff to address the annexation policy, add language for buffering to preserve the neighborhoods better, and move all permitted uses to conditional uses other than daycares, home occupations, public utilities, and public buildings. The motion carried 5-1, Councilor Caltabiano voting in opposition. b) Resolution No. 22-35; A Resolution adopting the 2022 Whitefish Community Housing Roadmap (p.118) Senior Planner Wendy Compton-Ring stated this Roadmap is an update to the next evolution of the Whitefish Strategic Housing Plan that was adopted in 2017. She introduced the two consultants that helped with this project: Wendy Sullivan with WSW Consulting and Seana Doherty with Agnew Beck. While staff was working through some technical difficulties, Mayor Muhlfeld called a recess at 8:28 p.m. and reconvened at 8:35 p.m. Wendy Sullivan and Seana Doherty presented a PowerPoint that is appended to the packet that is provided on the website. Manager Smith reported the Strategic Housing Plan Steering Committee has asked the Refresh team to take this Roadmap to their boards for consideration of adoption. The school district will be presenting the Roadmap to the school board next week. The City is continuing to work on action items. The core components are primarily related to increasing capacity at the city. We are currently hiring for the Housing Coordinator position. Staff will be looking at the current Strategic Housing Plan Steering Committee as the committee is scheduled to sunset at the end of December. Through this plan there are some recommended changes and will continue to take the lead on the establishment of the partnership framework where we will look to be meeting quarterly to meet with our community partners to continue moving forward with these housing strategies. 3  CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 21, 2022 Katie Williams, member of the Housing Refresh team, a board member of the Whitefish Housing Authority and board chair of Housing Whitefish. Housing Whitefish thanked the City of Whitefish for facilitating the 2022 Housing Refresh and bringing many community actors together to help draft accelerated solutions for community housing in Whitefish. Housing Whitefish is committed to adopt and embark on the next steps outlined in the plan starting first by working with the City of Whitefish, to establish the partnership framework, and also develop the community housing development plan. Whitefish Housing has hired their first Executive Director, Daniel Sidder, whose position has been initially funded by generous grants from Explore Whitefish’s Community Sustainability Fund, the Whitefish Community Foundation, and Mark and Robin Jones. His position is slated to begin in December and the Housing Whitefish board has identified the priority for the new executive director to start working with the City to help continue the momentum achieved by the Whitefish Community Housing Roadmap as soon as both partners are able. Katie also reported the Whitefish Housing Authority Board also support of the Community Housing Roadmap and its priority steps and solutions outlined in the document. The Snow Lot project, which has been almost seven years in the making, will be before the Council on December 5th. The Whitefish Housing Authority is excited to work with the city and other partners such as Housing Whitefish to help facilitate an effective community program and unit management. Mayor Muhlfeld opened the Public Hearing. Nathan Dugan, 937 Kalispell Avenue, Shelter WF President, stated the data in this report is valuable as we move forward to planning Whitefish’s housing future. The report states the problems that we have and provides some good solutions like implementing a communications and outreach plan to better educate the community on housing topics, taxes dedicated to community housing zoning for affordability and flexible forms and tenant protections. He is concerned how this roadmap will be used in the future when a development is proposed and a public hearing takes place in the room. The report states that 75% or 975 homes in Whitefish be built by 2030 need to be priced below the market rate. There will continue to be housing proposals that come forward in Whitefish begging to use the leverage for affordable housing that Whitefish has created. Many of these proposals will build 10-30% of their homes as deed restricted affordable for our community members. He asks the Council to not let this plan prevent them from incrementally chipping away at our affordable housing crisis. Instead of a near impossible to achieve ideal that ultimately results in strictly market rate development that does not benefit our community. There being no further public comment, Mayor Muhlfeld closed the Public Hearing and turned the matters over to the Council for their consideration. Councilor Davis made a motion, seconded by Council Qunell to adopt Resolution No. 22-35; A Resolution adopting the 2022 Community Housing Roadmap. Councilor Davis stated it is a cyclical industry. We started working on this in 2017, when the world was a different place. In the five years the problem has gotten worse for the community. This Roadmap breaks it down and has core components; public- private development funding, policies, and housing programs. We need to have people who work on housing Monday thru Friday, 9-5. The framework makes sense, and the overall analysis of where we need to go is correct. If the market goes down, we still need to work on this. It is a good path forward. The motion to approve carries. c) Resolution No. 22-36;A Resolution adopting legislative priorities for the 2023 Montana Legislative Session (p.213) 4  CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 21, 2022 City Manager Smith presented her staff report that is provided in the packet on the website. Mayor Muhlfeld opened the Public Hearing. There being no public comment, Mayor Muhlfeld closed the Public Hearing and turned the matters over the Council for their consideration. Councilor Qunell made a motion, seconded by Councilor Sweeney to approve Resolution No. 22-36; A Resolution adopting legislative priorities for the 2023 Montana Legislative Session. The motion carried. 7)8) COMMUNICATIONS FROM CITY MANAGER a) Written report enclosed with the packet. Questions from Mayor and Council? (p.235) Councilor Norton asked, and Manager Smith stated we are waiting on the manufacturer to deliver additional bear proof carts to Republic Services. The plan is to have all carts delivered by the middle of January. b) Other items arising between November 16th through November 21st Manager Smith updated the Council on the Impact Fee audit that has been completed. Staff has sent out letters to property owners that have been affected by the audit. There are two different letters going out; those that are potentially do a refund, and those that are not due a refund. With the potentially due a refund, they are to return a letter and schedule an appointment for an on-site inspection for staff to count fixture units to ensure that the building plans we have and what was actually built matches. It is moving forward and has been a lot of work. She thanks Rose Elliott, Keni Hopkins and all staff involved. It has been a huge team effort and a lot of work, but we are making progress. 8)9) COMMUNICATIONS FROM MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILORS a) Consideration of appointment to volunteer boards and committees not made during the Special Session preceding tonight’s meeting b) Consideration of cancelling the second meeting in December – December 19, 2022 Councilor Sweeney made a motion, seconded by Councilor Norton to hold the December 19, 2022 meeting for only those items that require action on a second hearing. The motion carried. Council Comments Councilor Feury stated there is a small community in France that is dismantling their ski lift because they haven’t had snow for over 15 years. There are many more areas like that throughout the Alps and they are aware of climate change. That is something that we all need to be cognizant of. It could strike us at some point too. We need to do what we can as a community from a sustainability standpoint. Us as a city and as an organization and all of our citizens. Councilor Norton would like the community at large to think about how they could help with housing. We are at the point now where most of what we are going to have to do will be subsidized. It affects people’s mental health to not have housing and also their safety. She thinks we can meet the challenge, but she would like everyone to start thinking more about what they can do individually to help. Councilor Davis stated he would make the observation that the number and location of dispensaries particularly in the downtown area is significantly more that he thought was possible underneath the regulations that we passed. It does seem there are some loopholes or unintended consequences happening that dispensaries could 5  CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 21, 2022 be located and where they are being located. Council showed support to revisit the code addressing marijuana dispensaries. Mayor Muhlfeld stated he and Manager Smith are still working on setting a date for the Council retreat in January. He has asked Council to come prepared to the next meeting to discuss available dates. They are also working on the State of the City Address in late February. 9)10) ADJOURNMENT (Resolution 08-10 establishes 11:00 p.m. as end of meeting unless extended to 11:30 by majority) Mayor Muhlfeld adjourned the meeting at 9:35 p.m. /s/John Muhlfeld Mayor Muhlfeld Attest: /s/Michelle Howke Michelle Howke, Whitefish City Clerk 6