The City of Whitefish partnered with consulting firm czb LLC to host an open house on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, presenting results from the visioning sessions conducted in September. The boards walked through the city’s land use planning process; here’s what they covered.
[Editor’s note: the board images from the original post need to be re-uploaded here from the Squarespace original.]
The process
The opening boards covered the Montana Land Use Planning Act and introduced Vision Whitefish 2045, the city’s compliance effort. The Land Use Element will describe current resident views, establish a growth vision, assess infrastructure capacity, and recommend zoning changes to streamline permits and improve housing affordability.
What the community said
Input from the February, April, and September sessions plus online participation (roughly 150 in-person attendees and 150 online) surfaced these themes: the Highway 93/40 intersection functions as the southern gateway; downtown is valued but expected to change; emergency access routes concern residents, particularly north of the viaduct; traffic congestion on Highway 93 and Wisconsin Avenue is a problem; and affordable and working family housing remains the top priority.
Street types and place types
The plan works with two building blocks. Street types define the function and feel of streets — from US-93 south of 13th (a regional street with the highest traffic) through community streets (Spokane, 2nd, Baker, Wisconsin), district streets, the downtown grid, and neighborhood streets. Place types describe the intended character, form, and function of an area — a form-based approach rather than separating uses.
The central question: where do 2,076 homes go?
Whitefish needs an estimated 2,076 new homes by 2045. Current vacant land within city limits could support about 1,100 — though redevelopment can add more, when older homes are replaced or when homes are added to lots that already have one.
Attendees ranked preferred growth locations. Inside the city: the Mountain Mall area as a neighborhood center (compact, walkable districts blending a full range of home types with neighborhood-serving retail) or as a compact suburban neighborhood (smaller lots, townhomes, cottage courts, and other low-rise homes in the middle range); and the area west of US-93 between JP Road and Park Knoll Lane as a mixed neighborhood (a diverse blend of single-family homes, duplexes, townhomes, and small multifamily). Outside city limits: along Karrow Avenue south of 7th St W, between Armory Road and Voerman Road, and north of Edgewood Drive east of Texas Avenue.
A further board identified additional growth areas in two clusters — south of Voerman Road to Monegan Road, and “The Avenues” (Spokane, Kalispell, Columbia, Somers) — in some tension with September feedback suggesting the avenues would remain relatively unchanged.
An online component for public participation is expected at Engage Whitefish when available.