Board rejects vacation-rental proposal
Calling a proposal to increase
short-term rentals in Whitefish an “end-run” around the planning
process and not needed, the Whitefish City-County Planning Board
unanimously recommended denial for the plan on March 17.
Courtland Chelmo, who brought the
zoning-text amendment to the planning office, called the proposal
an “economic stimulus” that could help him and others “fill in
subdivision lots” by attracting Canadian buyers to Whitefish, a
“resort town.”
Chelmo is the developer behind the
Birch Glades subdivision, which lies along Aspen Grove Street, a
through road connecting Texas and Colorado avenues.
According to Chelmo’s proposal, 10-acre
zoning overlays could be created in residential areas when 65
percent of the property owners inside the overlay approved the
change, and individual properties inside the overlay could be
approved for short-term rentals after applying for an
administrative conditional-use permit.
The plan also included performance
standards to address density, parking, licensing, safety, signage
and contact information to help police when they respond to
complaints about noise.
When the proposal was first heard on
Feb. 17, the board asked Chelmo and planning staff to come back
with more information on the local vacation-rental market and how
other resort communities deal with short-term rentals.
More than 1,500 properties in Whitefish
and its two-mile planning and zoning “doughnut” area have zoning
that allows rentals for less than 30 days, and 116 units were
advertised recently online as short-term rentals. City planners
noted that it was not known how many of the advertised units were
legal.
Of the five people who addressed the
board, four opposed Chelmo’s proposal.
Joe Falk, who rents three condos at
Baypoint On The Lake, noted that the resort has on-site management
to address noise, parking, disputes and “drunks.” He said requiring
a large deposit and setting lots of rules “doesn’t always
work.”
Ben Cavin, who cited experience with
short-term rentals near his home on Houston Point Drive, said city
planners are too busy to deal with short-term rentals.
“We don’t need to do this,” he
said.
Jill Evans, whose Texas Avenue home
could end up being adjacent to a 10-acre overlay created by Chelmo,
pointed out that she and her neighbors wouldn’t get to vote on
whether the overlay should be created.
Saying she “treasures families” and
will “defend her neighborhood,” Evans said the city didn’t need
more short-term rentals — it needed more affordable homes.
“This is an end-run around planning,”
she said.
Another Texas Avenue homeowner, Tim
Salt, said the decision on allowing short-term rentals in an area
should be determined “by the community as a whole,” not just by
property owners inside a 10-acre overlay.
“Whitefish is not a resort town — it’s
a resort community,” he said.
In support of Chelmo’s proposal, Stacy
Schnebel, who owns a house on Kalispell Avenue, told the board that
individual homeowners should be allowed to compete with everyone
else in the short-term rental market.
During board discussion, Diane Smith
noted that while she ordinarily supports proposals that promote the
economy and jobs, “this would help the people who come in first and
blow out the rest of us.”
Smith noted that other resort towns
across the U.S. cited bad experiences with short-term rentals and
were increasing restrictions or outright banning them altogether.
She also pointed out that lodging on Big Mountain is often vacant,
showing there wasn’t enough demand to support Chelmo’s
proposal.
“Whitefish is a family town, not a
resort town,” she said.
Board chairwoman Karen Reeves agreed
with Evans that the plan appeared to be “an end-run.” Board member
Chris Kelsey said the proposal was “not a prudent stimulus plan”
and didn’t provide adjacent neighbors a chance to vote on whether
an overlay zone should be created.
In other planning board news:
• The board unanimously approved a
request by Fresh Life Church Inc. to establish a church in a former
piano store on U.S. 93 south of Highway 40.
Board member Ole Netteberg, who recused
himself because he’s a church member, said Fresh Life Church has
been meeting at Mountain Cinema “and it’s full every time.”
Board member Ken Meckel added one
condition to his motion — that no residential use is allowed on the
site. Reeves warned about hazards on U.S. 93, where the speed limit
is 60 mph with four lanes and a “suicide lane” in the middle.
• A code amendment to clean up how
administrative conditional-use permits are issued was approved by
6-1, with board member Dennis Konopatzke opposed on the principle
that board members should fully understand what they vote for. He
wanted to delay the vote so he could study it further.
All three planning board items,
including the vacation-rentals proposal, will go to the Whitefish
City Council on April 4.