Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan Standing Committee

Sustainable Tourism Management Plan Standing Committee April 16, 2024 @ 2:00 P.M. Minutes 1) Call To Order Brian Schott called the meeting to order. Members present were Liz Colley, Matt Gebo, Heather Cauffman, , Mark Pascoli, Michelle Howke, Maria Joos. Ella Kobelt and Steve Kane were absent. Consultant Kate McMahon attended virtually. Nate with WLP was in attendance. 2) Approval of March 19, 2023, Minutes Lize made a motion, seconded by Mark to approve the March 19, 2024, minutes. The motion carried. 3) Community Meeting Recap Overall, the Committee felt the Community Workshop went well. Some of the feedback from the attendees were to provide a question-and-answer community engagement session. Rhonda Fitzgerald had a follow up call with Kate regarding the comment during the event pertaining to the Spokane Avenue Improvements. Kate suggested including into the plan under transportation, that the communities preferred plan was not MDT’s preferred plan. 4) Gold & Actions Worksheet Review The Committee reviewed the Goals and Action Worksheet and incorporated the community’s response. Tourism – The community picked as their top priority: • Conduct outreach to emphasize the benefits of a tourism economy such as Resort Tax, Explore Whitefish Community Sustainability Fund and other amenities. • Coordinate with regional tourism related organizations to implement STMP. (Glacier Country, Kalispell CVB, Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, State of Montana Office of Tourism) Mariah and Matt shared their perception of Glacier Country, Kalispell CVB, and State of Montana Office of Tourism. At the moment, Whitefish is on an island, especially with MT Office of Tourism. These organizations are not interested in have any conversation about community health with respect to tourism. The consensus of the Committee was to focus on: • Conduct outreach to emphasize the benefits of a tourism economy such as Resort Tax, Explore Whitefish Community Sustainability Fund and other amenities. Combined with: • Conduct several events each year to inform and engage local businesses, civic groups and multi- generational community members in STMP activities.  • Work with Glacier National Park on reservation system that reflects desires of local access to the park and continue to advocate for healthy relationship between the local communities and the Park. • Compile data on visitor levels, economic performance, housing market and other statistics related to the sustainability focus areas. Economic Diversification – The community picked as their top priority: • Work with businesses on programs to off-set high cost of living for employees. • Promote shoulder season for corporate retreats, think tanks, wellness retreats, and other low impact events. • Target business recruitment for year-round, good paying jobs to diversify economic base. (Finance, tech, life sciences…) The consensus of the Committee was to focus on: • Promote shoulder season for corporate retreats, think tanks, wellness retreats, and other low impact events. • Work with businesses on programs to off-set high cost of living for employees, related to housing. Transportation – The community picked as their top priority: • Support efforts by the city, local groups, and MDT to create a connected trail system. • Work with Glacier Park International Airport and the Mountain Climber transit to increase options for shuttle services especially for early morning departures and late-night arrivals. Discussion followed about walkability and connectivity there are a lot of different components. The Plan needs to talk about walkability and connectivity and combine some of the other bullet points or comments into the action item. We are trying to relieve peak season car pressure. A recommendation of this plan is to put together a joint work group from various committees (Climate Action, Sustainable Tourism Plan, Housing Committee) to focus on public transportation solutions. Housing and Development – The community picked as their top priority: • Engage community non-profit (i.e. Housing Whitefish) on outreach, funding and supporting workforce housing projects. • Incentivize landlords to convert short term rentals into workforce rentals. The consensus of the Committee was to focus on: • Monitor and collect data on the short-term rental enforcement. • Support housing non-profits on outreach, funding and supporting workforce housing projects. Sustainability & Environmental – The community picked as their top priority: • Support Explore Whitefish efforts to incorporate livability and stewardship concerns into their activities. • Establish green business certification and incentivize businesses to participate. The consensus of the Committee was to focus on: • Education and outreach to local businesses on how to incorporate sustainable practices into their operations and work with the Climate Action Plan to put on workshops. • Support Explore Whitefish efforts to incorporate livability and stewardship concerns into their activities. The next step is to take these goals and objectives to develop an action plan. Kate will complete a draft of the Plan by the beginning of May for the Committee to review. The next meeting the Committee will review the full document. It will then go to the Council work session on June 3rd. 5) Public Comment None 6) Next Meeting: May 14, 2024 7) Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 3:21 pm.