Due to lack of a quorum, tonight's city council work session to discuss the housing and transportation elements of Vision Whitefish 2045 has been rescheduled to next Monday the 9tth at 5:30 PM.

The agenda is posted HERE

The draft Land Use element, as developed by czb LLC in close consultation with staff, has been released for public review. We apologize for the short turn-around time for review, but we have been working on this as fast as we can, and our timeline is dictated by State Law that requires us to have the plan adopted and zoning in place by mid May.

This Land Use chapter draft will be discussed during work session meetings by the Planning Commission on February 4, 2026 and February 11, 2026, beginning at 6PM. Public comment will be welcomed at both work sessions. Any written comments on this draft can be submitted to atiefenbach@cityofwhitefish.gov and they will be forwarded directly to the Planning Commission.

The draft land use plan is linked to the agenda posted HERE.

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/27864702690399?p=NbEmbE40eyVShFGDRC

Meeting ID: 278 647 026 903 99

Passcode: 4Pc7vW7U

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On January 20, 2026, the first work session has been scheduled to introduce the Council to the first three plan elements – economic development, environment, natural resources and hazards (ENRH) and public facilities – as well as a wealth of background information.

Staff is pleased to present the first (partially) assembled version of the plan comprised of all the components intended for discussion at the upcoming work session. Please note at this point this is mostly a text document, although maps have been included when they are part of the plan elements. Once the draft has been completed to meet all statutory requirements by the May 2026 deadline, the next phase will be implementation schedules, layout and final presentation.

Throughout the numerous work sessions during the development of this plan, the Planning Commission has made a myriad of revisions. Revisions that do not concern staff or are non-controversial have been accepted into the draft. Revisions of which staff has concerns or that are controversial have been identified in red-marked text.

Please note Planning Commission public hearings on the final draft are scheduled for February 19 and February 25. The version that goes to the Planning Commission for these hearings will be comprised of ALL red marked changes as made by the Planning Commission with any subsequent red-marks as recommended by staff identified. As there could be additional changes made by the Planning Commission during these hearings, the final version that goes to the City Council for adoption in early March will be red-marked accordingly along with staff’s recommendations regarding the changes.

The agenda for the January 20, 2026 meeting including the draft is linked to the agenda HERE.

Updated December 23, 2025

On December 9, 2025 a draft housing element was posted for public comment. This preliminary draft had been prepared by staff over a period of several months using the results of visioning sessions, the 2007 adopted growth policy, approximately 30 community plans from other jurisdictions and recent Whitefish housing needs assessments and studies. When the preliminary draft was completed, staff included the Whitefish Community Housing Committee as an advisory committee in two internal work sessions. At these work sessions, staff and the Committee worked together to arrive at mutually agreed upon housing goals and objectives.

Due to time constraints, the draft was released for public review ahead of a December 17th, 2025 Planning Commission Vision Whitefish 2045 meeting before staff was able to refine and tie together all the edits made by the Community Housing Committee. At the December 17, 2025 meeting, staff gave a presentation on the housing element, the Planning Commission heard public comment, and the meeting was adjourned to allow the Planning Commission adequate time to digest all public comment and reconvene with their recommendations on the draft housing element at an upcoming JANUARY 7, 2026 MEETING STARTING AT 6PM.

Below is a link to the most recent housing draft, with some additional staff edits. As the Community Housing Committee only had time to make their revisions to the proposed goals and objectives, this is where nearly all the revisions are contained. Staff did some minor rearranging and consolidation, added narratives below each goal to be consistent with formatting of other plan elements, and proposes adding back a small amount of language which was in staff's original draft but did not make into the version completed by the Community Housing Committee. All revisions between this version and the previous version are noted in purple text (or green when text is relocated).

THE COMPLETE PLANNING COMMISSION PACKET INCLUDING THE DRAFT ELEMENT AND PUBLIC COMMENT IS LINKED IN THE AGENDA HERE.

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November 25, 2025 Update

HERE are the posters that were presented at the November 18, 2025 Open House.

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At public visioning workshops in September, participants guided city staff and the supporting consultant team in beginning the future land use mapping process. Participants were asked to distinguish different areas from one another on the basis of land uses and physical character to determine what type of future development should occur in specific parts of the city. The community was also invited to participate in an online version of the workshop activities during the month of October.

Using this input, in combination with housing needs projections from the newly updated Whitefish Housing Needs Assessment and draft Housing Element, as well as population projections from the Montana Department of Commerce, the consultant team has developed potential future growth scenarios. The city now seeks community feedback on these potential scenarios, ensuring that the Future Land Use Map reflects the community’s emerging vision.

The public is invited to an interactive open house from 5:30-7:30 on Tuesday, November 18 in City Council Chambers at Whitefish City Hall at 418 East 2nd Street in Whitefish. The open house will feature posters of land use scenarios arranged in various stations, staffed by city staff and consultants to solicit input. Attendees are free to come and go as they please during the allotted time to review information and ask questions at their own pace. There will be no formal presentation. FREE childcare will be provided. Sign up for childcare at the following link:

https://secure.rec1.com/MT/whitefish-mt/catalog?filter=c2VhcmNoPTM5OTQ2MDY=

The consultant czb, LLC will be discussing the land use element with the Planning Commission as the first part of the meeting.

There was a great deal of public comment regarding the draft transportation element at the Planning Commission's November 5, 2025 Vision Whitefish 2045 Meeting. After the public comment period, the Planning Commission moved to close public comment and continue their discussions to a November 19, 2025 meeting at 6PM after czb LLCs presentation. The most recent transportation element draft and all public comment is linked from the agenda

The Draft Transportation Element is linked from the agenda located HERE.

At a July 16, 2025 Vision Whitefish 2045 Meeting, the Community Development Board reviewed the Public Facilities Element of Vision Whitefish 2045 and made minor modifications.

At the time of the review of the public facilities element, there were placeholders for the sections on public water, public sewer and stormwater. This is because updated infrastructure master plans were in the process. Final drafts of these infrastructure plans have been completed since this time. Although staff is still communicating with engineering consultants on minor revisions, we believe the plans have been completed enough to prepare a draft of the related plan sections.

Due to staff being at several professional conferences in the month of October, the October 15, 2025 Vision Whitefish 2045 meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 6PM to discuss these plan sections. Please submit any comments you may have on these plan sections by Friday, September 26, 2025.

The public water section can be viewed HERE.

The wastewater and stormwater section can be viewed HERE.

Join the meeting

Meeting ID: 240 582 184 483 2

Passcode: JT6ES6kW

The City of Whitefish is hosting two identical community visioning sessions on land use on September 16th and 17th upstairs in the Whitefish City Hall City Council chambers from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. as part of its ongoing comprehensive plan update. Choose the day that works best for you!

The purpose of the sessions is to collaboratively map the city of Whitefish and distinguish specific areas on the basis of land uses and development character. The mapping exercise will consider both current conditions and future opportunities. In addition, the public will identify categories of street types present to consider transportation and mobility issues. This work both builds upon and advances past visioning efforts to plan for future growth and development, keeping the community involved in the development of the City’s required Future Land Use Map.

Free childcare will be available for both nights of the visioning sessions – please register ahead of time at the following link:

https://secure.rec1.com/MT/whitefish-mt/catalog

The city will also provide online opportunities to participate and provide input later for those that cannot make one of the sessions.

At a June 18th 2025 Vision Whitefish 2045 Meeting, the Community Development Board discussed and voted to approve the draft hazards section. As the discussion of that element occurred late in the evening after lengthy discussion of the water quality section, the Board later did not believe they had ample time to completely review the hazards section and address all comments. At the request of a board member, the hazards section has been again added as an agenda item and a special meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, August 27, 2025 at 6PM.

The agenda (with link to meeting materials) is posted HERE.

At a May 21, 2025 Growth Policy Meeting, the Community Development Board voted 4-2 to adopt a significantly revised version of an economic development element that had been submitted by the organization called Heart of Whitefish rather than the City Planning Staff’s version of the chapter.

Following that meeting, staff has received a large number of public comments, primarily concerns regarding the content of the changes and how the Heart of Whitefish version had been accepted in entirety without it being indicated during the public review period or any public notices of the meeting that it might be considered by the Board as an alternate version for adoption. At the June 2, 2025 City Council work session and regular meeting, a considerable number of people expressed similar concerns to the City Council, with a few other individuals testifying in favor of the process and the changes.

The City Council later recommended the Community Development Board revisit the economic development plan element and go line-by-line through the Heart of Whitefish changes. As a result, this item will be a topic of discussion by the Community Development Board at their August 20, 2025 Vision Whitefish meeting, beginning at 6PM.

The staff memo for the upcoming meeting is located HERE.

The most recent version of the economic development element is located in "Documents / Draft Plan Chapters" on the right hand side of this page and is linked HERE.

Staff's analysis of the Heart of Whitefish's revisions and all public comment is located HERE.

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At a June 18th 2025 Vision Whitefish 2045 Meeting, the Community Development Board discussed and approved the draft hazards section. As the discussion of that element occurred late in the evening after further discussions of the water quality section, the Board did not believe they had ample time to completely review the hazards section and address all comments. The hazards section has been again added as an agenda item for further review following the economic development element discussion.

Proposed additions to the hazards section and staff's analysis is located HERE.

Video of work sessions are posted on this webpage when they are available.