Despite running past midnight, the Whitefish City Council was unable to decide whether or not to permit Community Infill Partners to build their 143-unit high-density development on 24 acres of open space along 2nd Street, deciding to table it for their September 3rd meeting in order to get their many questions answered. The meeting was filled with residents opposed to the project, which would build 92 apartments, 36 condos, and 15 accessory apartments. 14 of the units would be affordable housing, and the developers are currently seeking changes to allow for two-family residential units as well as the ability to cluster units and keep the majority of the acreage as open space.
The project has been scaled back from its initial proposal that presented in the spring and which wanted approval for 174 units, the maximum allowable density. Since neighbors have complained, the number of units have been cut down, and Community Infill has tried to keep character consistent with the neighborhood by putting single-family homes on the perimeter and concentrating the apartment buildings at the center. The argument for and against the development is like many we're following across the West: some residents protest the out-of-character density of the project and its traffic stresses, while others throw their support behind it after lamenting the lack of affordable housing for middle-class city residents feeling the squeeze from the millionaires buying up so much of the property in popular Western ski towns.
· No decision on 2nd Street apartment project [Whitefish Pilot]