Council votes to reconsider Kemosabe conditional use permit limited to imposing operating-hours condition after board-reporting concerns and missing hearing录像

Whitefish City Council voted unanimously to reconsider a previously approved conditional use permit (WCUP) for a Kemosabe retail establishment only to consider adding a condition limiting liquor service hours. The motion, narrowly tailored by council, opens the item for a single issue at a future meeting rather than re-litigating the CUP. Why it matters: a Community Development Board member raised procedural concerns that the staff report and the Board’s adopted findings had been edited after Board votes and that portions of the video of the Board hearing were unavailable online. That board member said the staff report did not address whether the proposed retail use with a bar/lounge license fit the character of the neighborhood, particularly because the location sits across the street from a middle school. Councilor (unnamed) moved to reconsider the WCUP for the limited purpose of adding a condition to restrict liquor serving hours to 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., which the applicant was reportedly willing to accept. The council clarified the motion was restricted to that single condition and would not be a full reconsideration or a denial of the CUP. The motion passed unanimously and the mayor asked staff to provide special notice to the applicant for the future hearing. The Community Development Board member asked staff to implement an audio-recording backup for board hearings after the loss of video for several minutes of the Kemosabe hearing; council acknowledged the request and staff said they would work to improve recording backups and reliability.