City should develop City Hall property

Whitefish has the uniqueness to always have wonderful, talented people appearing to serve on its boards and to run for city council. In the process, however, there seems to be a loss of institutional memory. Since my last two issues of the Pilot mention the city council's No. 1 planning concern is city hall facilities, I would like to respectfully offer an historical perspective on that project.

In the early '90s, while serving on the council, I represented Whitefish at a conference of resort cities in Banff. The conference was titled Affordable Housing in Resort Communities. It included several valuable nuggets about the use of limited space because, unlike Whitefish, most resort communities have nowhere to expand.

Most of the nuggets have been implemented and our community was able to save making many of the mistakes of earlier developing resort areas because of their sharing the pitfalls with us.

The relationship of this conference and Whitefish historical memory went beyond affordable housing. It addressed city hall facilities. The nugget there is that street level property is too valuable for retail use to be tied up with governmental function.

The city council in 1993 agreed. We were concerned about anchoring downtown, while appropriately growing the corridor to Highway 40. The Credit Union was building the present structure and our council purchased the old one and a building next door that wasn't part of the Credit Union. However, use of those buildings, as City Hall was considered temporary.

The nugget, from the experience of other resort communities, was to make that nearly half block available to a retailer. The offset would be that the city hall would go on the second floor of the new facility. Fire and police service would be moved off the present street, but with easy access for response to emergencies. In the meantime, the temporary space has been facelifted and remodeled and once again is under review.

With all due respect to today's decision makers, I would like to suggest that the logic that governed that original decision is still valid. Part of the appeal of Whitefish is that it is a real community, not just a service district for the resorts. To keep that reality, a strong downtown remains essential. Thank you for the vehicle to offer an historical perspective and humbly ask for its consideration in the present planning process.

Donna Maddux lives in Whitefish and Missoula.