ShelterWF, Citizens for a Better Flathead press council on mixed‑use and public participation in growth policy update

Keegan Siebenhaler, executive director of ShelterWF, and Mary Flowers of Citizens for a Better Flathead used the Whitefish City Council public comment period on Nov. 17 to press council and staff on two related planning concerns: retaining 'mixed use' language in the transportation element of the growth policy and improving the public participation process for the growth‑policy update.

Siebenhaler told the council that a downtown business group urged the planning commission to remove references to mixed use from the transportation element during recent public comment. He said mixed use had broad community support, including from the Whitefish Youth Council, and argued mixed use supports a multimodal community by locating people near amenities so bike and pedestrian infrastructure are used. ShelterWF said it will register objections with the council if the planning commission removes mixed‑use language.

Flowers said her comments were not a critique of planner Allan’s work but a critique of how public participation has been implemented. She cited sections of the Montana Land Use Planning Act and said the planning commission should play the primary role in providing notice, receiving and responding to public comment. Flowers said CBF will meet with the city manager to present concrete recommendations and asked that their comments be posted online for public access.

City manager Dana later described an updated timeline for growth‑policy work sessions and said limited consultant resources and a May 2026 MLUPAA compliance deadline mean staff is inclined to pursue an initial code amendment to meet statutory obligations and later pursue a full rewrite via RFP. Dana asked council for direction on contracting approach and on holding additional work sessions.