Mayor & City Council
Regular MeetingWhitefish, MT · April 10, 2023
Minutes
WHITEFISH CITY COUNCIL
April 10, 2023
SPECIAL MEETING AT 5:00 P.M.
1) Call to Order
The meeting was held in-person in the Council Chambers and remotely via Microsoft Teams. Councilor
Feury called the meeting to order. Councilors present were Davis, Qunell, Norton and Caltabiano. Mayor
Muhlfeld and Deputy Mayor Sweeney were absent. Staff present were City Manager Smith, City Clerk
Howke, City Attorney Jacobs and Planning and Building Director Taylor. Approximately 8 people were
in the audience and 6 attended virtually.
2) NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Mayor John Muhlfeld, pursuant to § 7-5-4102,
MCA, hereby calls a special meeting of the Whitefish City Council on Monday, April
10, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall, 418 E. 2 nd Street, Whitefish, Montana.
The object of the special meeting is to discuss SB 528 (requiring municipalities to
adopt certain regulations in relation to accessory dwelling units and prohibiting certain
regulations in relation to accessory dwelling units) and SB 268 (revising short term
rental laws).
City Manager Smith reported the City has been working actively with the Legislature, with a Lobbyist
in Helena. SB 528 and SB 268, the City has been opposing through the hearings. We are reaching the
end of the session transmittal for general bills and revenue bills have both been met. Any bills that are
still alive are ones we are focusing on.
SB 528 is a bill that would allow Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) throughout cities regardless of any
zoning that is currently in place. It would prohibit municipalities from requiring certain things with
ADUs such as additional parking, matching the exterior design, and assessing impact fees. It would
require cities not allow a single-family dwelling or the accessory dwelling unit occupancy. The size
requirement would be increased to 1,000 square feet rather than 800 square feet that is currently in the
city regulations and increase the height to 35 feet.
The City has opposed SB 528 on the basis these decisions should be made locally. Our zoning is created
with the public and the community. The community has more public opportunity at the local level rather
than at the state level. Whitefish has recently changed the ADU regulations to allow for units to be rented
without an owner occupancy requirement. We have created an affordable housing workforce program
within the ADU regulations to allow for larger square footage and no parking requirement if there is a
deed restriction on the ADU. In general SB 528 would be impactful on the size of the units and the height
of the units and parking requirements.
SB 268 is also making its way through the legislature and is scheduled for a second reading on the House
floor on April 12th. SB 268 was amended to include a “Grandfather” clause to allow all short-term
rentals that are in existence of the passage of SB 268 to remain in effect of additional regulations. SB
268 would allow primary residents (owner occupied for 7 months or more) to rent out the primary home
and/or the ADU or adjoining parcel. With primary residents being seven months, anybody who meets
that qualification could rent at least one additional dwelling unit to their home as a short-term rental.
The concern the city has, and has expressed this to the legislature, is that in Whitefish we are unique,
and we have a very high number of short-term rentals. With additional ADUs by right, without owner
occupancy requirement, they will potentially turn into short-term rentals.
SB 268 is scheduled for a second reading on the House Floor on April 12th. SB 528 is scheduled for a
Committee hearing on April 13th. Manager Smith would like to see a member of the Council to attend
virtually or in-person to provide comment.
Discussion followed:
SB 528 is really top-down forcing regulations with land use; 35 feet in height could be an imposing
garage or accessory unit in the back yard; eliminates the ability to collect impact fees; eliminates parking.
Our current regulations provide incentives for deed restricted units for 5-years, for 12-month lease, such
as no requiring parking.
SB 268, Whitefish can still require registration of short-term rentals because of the Resort Tax and in
that process confirm residency. Both bills are being supported by the Realtors Association, AIRBNB
and VRBO and their operators, other than Senator Hertz who is the main sponsor for both bills. One of
the challenges would be enforcement of the resident requirement. Secondary homeowners might find
themselves wanting to live here seven month out of the year to then rent out the other five months. We
do have a significant population of second homeowners that rent out their homes.
3) Public Comment
Mayre Flowers, Citizens for a Better Flathead (virtually) provided written comments for the meeting.
She would encourage the Council to oppose SB 268, SB 528, and SB 323. This should be a local decision.
She also encourages the Council to work with Representative Fern to sponsor a floor amendment for SB
382. If counties can opt out of this, cities should also be allowed to opt out.
Toby Scott, 1478 Barkley Lane suggested providing a list of all the Representatives in a mass email. A
question should be presented to the legislature how they expect the cities to enforce the 7-month
residency. Does the 7-month residency have to be continuous or accumulative?
Richard Hildner, 104 5th Street, member of the Flathead Families for Responsible Growth. These two
bills together are a travesty to communities across the state of Montana. They do nothing to relieve the
critical shortage of affordable/workforce housing. They erode the ability for local officials to make local
decisions for our community. The City should expressively oppose SB 268 and SB 528. He hopes the
City can have a representative(s) to weigh in either in person or virtually.
Rhonda Fitzgerald, 412 Lupfer Avenue, stated the proponents for SB 268 talked about affordability.
They thought it is giving an owner the opportunity to have a revenue stream. They didn’t address the
fact that it raises all the cost for a house. In every hearing Senator Hertz said that the League of Cities
and Towns supported the bill. It is a point to make that the League of Cities and Towns does not support
this bill. They have carved out for HOA some special privileges, but neighborhoods rely on the City to
be their HOA. That is very unfair treatment. This is a hotel use in a residential neighborhood. Hotels
have managers 24/7 because there needs to be supervision of transient travelers. These would be
unsupervised hotel rooms scattered through neighborhoods. It would be a tremendously huge law
enforcement issue like human trafficking, drug deals, and smuggling of contraband. This is opening a
whole can of worms for things that nobody has thought about. Neighborhoods are safe because neighbors
look out for each other. If every other house has hotel use, no one will know anybody, and our
neighborhoods will not be safe.
Nathan Dugan, 937 Kalispell Avenue, President of Shelter WF. Shelter WF supports SB 528 and
encourages the Council to move towards solutions that begin to harness SB 528. SB 268 is widely agreed
upon bad bill. He drafted an amendment to this bill that should go to the House Floor on Wednesday to
exempt places in the state where short term rentals are an issue, such as Whitefish , West Yellowstone
and Big Sky. Our best course action to address SB 268 if is passes is to look at running a ballot initiative
to invalidate it.
Whitney Beckham, 427 Lupfer Avenue opposes these bills. She would be happy to see the list of contacts
to pass on to as many people as possible.
Public Comment Closed
4) Direction to City Manager
The more concerning bill of the two is SB 268. This is being pushed by two out of state corporations
that have tons of money, have disrupted the lodging industry. They shouldn’t be pushing bills like this
to get more beds into their system. We have done a lot of work to make sure to put short-term rentals in
the right part of town. This is not what Montana is all about and Montana is mostly small towns. There
is a lot of hidden cost such as law enforcement.
For SB 528, lobby for 800 square foot or less, eliminate the impact fee abatement. Potential impact to
neighborhoods and the look, we should oppose it.
SB 268 is pointed at communities exactly like ours. Council will submit a letter that all Council can sign
off on. We need an overwhelming groundswell from people in the community saying no. Talk about
neighborhood integrity, impacts on local residents, enforceability. Encourage members of the
community who has the time to testify in-person. Staff will provide a list of contacts for the
Representatives to members of the Council and partnering agencies, with talking points.
5) Adjourn
Councilor Feury adjourned the Special Meeting at 6:17 p.m.
/s/Andy Feury
Councilor Feury
Attest:
/s/Michelle Howke
Michelle Howke, Whitefish City Clerk
Agenda
CITY OF WHITEFISH
NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Mayor John Muhlfeld, pursuant to § 7-5-
4102, MCA, hereby calls a special meeting of the Whitefish City Council on
Monday, April 10, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall, 418 E. 2nd Street,
Whitefish, Montana. The object of the special meeting is to discuss SB 528
(requiring municipalities to adopt certain regulations in relation to accessory
dwelling units and prohibiting certain regulations in relation to accessory dwelling
units) and SB 268 (revising short term rental laws). Public comment will be taken.
To attend the meeting via Microsoft Teams, and provide live comment on your computer, tablet or smartphone, attendees
should go to the web link below.
Meeting Link: Microsoft Teams Link Meeting Number: 237 012 915 809 Password: pybpfD
For the Audio Conference Call option: call the number below and enter the access code.
• United States Toll Free: 833-563-1751 Access code: 169 625 973#
• We encourage individuals to provide written public comment; to the City Clerk, Michelle Howke at
mhowke@cityofwhitefish.org or deliver by 4:00 p.m. Monday, April 10, 2023, to City Hall. Written comments should
include name, address, should be short and concise, courteous, and polite. All written comments received by 4:00 p.m.
will be provided to the City Council and appended to the packet following the meeting.
• Public comment by those attending the meeting "live" via Microsoft Teams or in-person will be limited to three
minutes per individual.
418 East 2nd Street · PO Box 158 · Whitefish, MT 59937
(406) 863-2406 · Fax : (406) 863-2419
www.cityofwhitefish.org
March 21, 2023
Honorable Members of the House Judiciary Committee
Montana House of Representatives
PO BOX 200400
Helena, MT 59620-0400
RE: Senate Bill No. 268 (SB 268)
Dear Madam Chair, Senator Hertz, and Members of the Committee:
The City of Whitefish strongly opposes SB 268 scheduled for a hearing on March 24th, which
would define short-term rentals as a residential use and allow primary residents to short-term rental
all or part of their property and/or a property adjacent to the owner’s primary residence.
As depicted in the graph below, Whitefish has continued to see increased registered short-term
rentals in approved zoning districts. From 2020 to 2021 the City experienced a 51% increase in
short-term rentals. Last year registered short-term rental units increased an additional 18.5%
compared to 2021. While these increases are significant, we know that there are up to two-times
more that are operating illegally within the City and enforcement efforts are underway.
Registered Short-Term Rentals by Year
400
340
300 287
190
200
133
108
100
35
4
0
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
As homes and accessory dwelling units are converted to short-term rentals, we lose workforce housing
which is desperately needed as prices increase. The average sales price, excluding sales over $5
million, in the 59937 ZIP Code increased from $748,247 in 2019 to $1,142,229 in 2021, a 53% increase
over a two-year period.
Sure, SB 268 may be one a way for property owners to support the higher cost of housing, but at
what cost? It’s well known that short-term rentals: (1) lead to degradation of neighborhoods and loss
of community, (2) compete with other lodging businesses clearly making short-term rentals a
commercial use, and (3) increase demand for tourism related services for which those businesses are
currently struggling to find workers due to the high cost of housing. Besides, property owners already
have an opportunity to rent their properties long-term (at least 30 days) to generate additional
income. However, even with an additional income stream, many working Montanans cannot afford
the down-payments or monthly payments of housing, especially in higher cost areas.
While SB 268 appears to allow some control under covenants and homeowners’ associations, the
bill is retroactive. Therefore, even if a homeowners’ association added the prohibition of short-
term rentals prior to the passage of this bill, it would generally only be effective for new owners
after the bylaws are adopted. SB 268 also does nothing to protect neighborhoods that do not have
covenants in place or a homeowners’ association, which includes much of our historic
neighborhoods.
As a gateway community to Glacier National Park, Whitefish will undoubtedly see more short-
term rentals if SB 268 is passed, which will only increase housing prices and take away needed
housing for our local workforce. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are a key component of our
workforce housing as they are often smaller and lower cost to rent, which is why we have reduced
regulations for ADUs in Whitefish. At a minimum ADUs should be eliminated from SB 268
because we do not need more short-term rentals for visitor, we need more housing for Montanans.
We respectfully request that you oppose SB 268. Thank you for considering our comments.
Sincerely,
Dana Smith, CPA
Whitefish City Manager
dsmith@cityofwhitefish.org
418 East 2nd Street · PO Box 158 · Whitefish, MT 59937
(406) 863-2406 · Fax : (406) 863-2419
www.cityofwhitefish.org
February 17, 2023
Honorable Members of the Senate Local Government Committee
Montana Senate
PO BOX 200500
Helena, MT 59620-0500
RE: Senate Bill No. 268
Dear Chairman Friedel, Senator Hertz, and Members of the Committee:
The City of Whitefish strongly opposes SB 268 scheduled for a hearing on February 20th, which
would define short-term rentals as a residential use and allow primary residents to short-term rental
all or part of their property and/or a property adjacent to the owner’s primary residence.
As depicted in the graph below, Whitefish has continued to see increased registered short-term
rentals in approved zoning districts. From 2020 to 2021 the City experienced a 51% increase in
short-term rentals. Last year registered short-term rental units increased an additional 18.5%
compared to 2021. While these increases are significant, we know that there are up to two-times
more that are operating illegally within the City.
Registered Short-Term Rentals by Year
400
350 340
300 287
250
190
200
150 133
108
100
50 35
4
0
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
As homes are converted to short-term rentals, we lose possible workforce housing which is desperately
needed as housing prices increase. The average sales price, excluding sales over $5 million, in the
59937 ZIP Code increased from $748,247 in 2019 to $1,142,229 in 2021, a 53% increase over a two-
year period. SB 268 flies directly in the face of the State’s efforts to address the affordable housing
crisis.
Furthermore, short-term rentals: (1) lead to degradation of neighborhoods, (2) compete with other
lodging businesses clearly making short-term rentals a commercial use, and (3) increase demand for
tourism related services for which those businesses are currently struggling to find workers due to the
high cost of housing. As a gateway community to Glacier National Park, Whitefish will
undoubtedly see more short-term rentals if SB 268 is passed, which would only increase housing
prices and take away needed housing for workers.
While SB 268 appears to allow some control under covenants and homeowners’ associations, the
bill is retroactive. Therefore, even if a homeowners’ association added the prohibition of short-
term rentals after the passage of this bill, it would generally only be effective for new owners after
the bylaws are adopted. SB 268 also does nothing to protect neighborhoods that do not have
covenants in place or a homeowners’ association.
SB 268 is another attempt at a top-down one-size-fits all approach. Communities should be
allowed the opportunity to regulate short-term rentals.
We respectfully request that you oppose SB 268. Thank you for considering our comments.
Sincerely,
Dana Smith, CPA
Whitefish City Manager
dsmith@cityofwhitefish.org
418 East 2nd Street · PO Box 158 · Whitefish, MT 59937
(406) 863-2406 · Fax : (406) 863-2419
www.cityofwhitefish.org
March 26, 2023
Honorable Members of the Senate Local Government Committee
Montana Senate
PO BOX 200500
Helena, MT 59620-0500
RE: Senate Bill No. 528 (SB 528)
Dear Chairman Friedel, Senator Hertz, and Members of the Committee:
The City of Whitefish opposes SB 528 scheduled for a hearing on March 27th, which would revise
zoning laws related to accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
SB 528 appears to be another attempt at addressing the housing crisis in Montana and we agree
that ADUs are a great way to provide more housing because they are smaller units that generally
rent at a lower cost that is affordable to the workforce. However, the City does not support this
one-size-fits-all top-down approach, especially when there is the possibility these newly added
units will become short-term rentals.
Whitefish recently reduced certain regulations for ADUs For example, there is no longer an owner
occupancy requirement so both units may now be rented. ADUs are also now a permitted use in
residential zoning districts. A rent local program (12-month lease to local resident for five years)
was also adopted that allows for an increase in square footage up to 800 square feet, no additional
off-street parking requirements, and the possible reimbursement of permit and impact fees.
SB 528 would allow ADUs to be built to the lesser of 1,000 square feet or the gross floor area of
the single-family dwelling. This means an ADU would only have to be one square foot less in size,
which would clearly make it not “accessory” to the single-family residence. It would essentially
be two single family homes. Many historic homes in Whitefish are around 1,000 square feet, or
even less, which is why the City has a standard of 600 square feet, unless the property owner
participates in the rent local program.
The City has been working to address affordable housing with partners and businesses in our
community. The recently adopted Whitefish Community Housing Roadmap calls out various
recommended updates to our municipal zoning code, as well as other strategies to best address the
need for affordable housing in Whitefish. What is needed in Whitefish is not that same as what is
needed in Helena, Billings, or Malta.
We respectfully request that you oppose SB 528. Thank you for considering our comments.
Sincerely,
Dana Smith, CPA
Whitefish City Manager
dsmith@cityofwhitefish.org
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