93 West corridor study moves forward

Whitefish City Councilors awarded a contract for the U.S. 93 West Corridor Plan to WGM Group, despite recommendations to accept the lowest bidder.

The contract with WGM is not to exceed $54,185. Richard Hildner was the lone vote against at the April 15 meeting. Councilors Frank Sweeney and John Anderson were not in attendance.

The contract will be funded by tax increment finance funds and from the planning department’s budget. WGM proposed to complete the corridor study within six months.

City staff had recommended awarding the contract to Applied Communications for an amount not to exceed $50,000.

The city received four responses to requests for proposals. A selection committee including Mayor John Muhlfeld, Public Works Director John Wilson, city planner Wendy Compton-Ring, and Planning Director Dave Taylor ranked all four proposals.

Applied scored the highest with 709 points out of a maximum 800. WGM was second with 693 points. Design Workshop and CTA Group scored the lowest.

According to Taylor’s staff report, the majority of the committee felt Applied had the strongest proposal.

“As a local firm, they have the most flexibility to attend steering committee and other meetings, have a great familiarity with Whitefish and our adopted long range plans, as well as the necessary experience for a successful project,” Taylor noted. “The interview committee also unanimously felt their proposal for evaluating the economic performance of the district was the strongest of all the applicants.”

Taylor also said WGM was a strong candidate as they are the firm who designed the U.S. 93 West highway improvement project, which is currently underway.

At the April 15 meeting, Hildner unsuccessfully motioned to award the contract to Applied. After his motion failed, Bill Kahle motioned to give the contract to WGM.

“WGM has a continuity with the reconstruction going on,” Kahle said prior to his motion. “They’ve also developed a relationship with existing homeowners — that’s vital.”

Bob Horne, of Applied, countered that his firm was more suitable for planning work.

“This is not an engineering project,” he said. “This is planning relative to the growth policy and zoning policy.”

The City of Whitefish decided in January to go ahead with a planning study of the U.S. 93 West corridor.

In December, Whitefish resident Ryan Zinke withdrew applications to build a bed and breakfast and brewery following push back from residents in the West Second Street neighborhood.

The dispute was about whether the corridor was destined to be a quiet residential zone or an area for future commercial development. Zinke’s projects would have required a nonresidential planned unit development overlay.

Taylor says Zinke’s proposed projects, “put the spotlight on the need for a corridor plan.”