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Inside this issue AnnexaƟon 2 Short-Term Rentals 2 Land Use 3 Affordable 4 Building Permits 4 Special points of interest · 3.986 acres were annexed · 51 New Short-Term Rental Permits were issued with a Total of 396 AcƟve STR Per- mits · 121 Total Land Use Permits were processed, down from 2023 · 70 Lots were Final PlaƩed · 595 Building Permits were issued · 44 New ResidenƟal Units · 6 Affordable Housing Units From the Director I hope your 2025 is off to a great start! 2024 was an interesƟng year where we saw development pressures conƟnue to level off from the big Covid boom. While we had a 50% increase in single family homes permiƩed from last year (36 vs 24) , that’s sƟll a huge drop from 2020 when we had 129. We had zero permits for mulƟ-family developments, but we expect several large projects to come in for permits in 2025. Total residenƟal permits dropped to 44 from 63 in 2023. Commercial permits basically stayed steady the last three years. Subdivisions picked up a bit, with 70 new lots plaƩed in 2024, which is the most since 2019. Other land use permit numbers remained similar to 2023. For long range planning we amended the sign code with some substanƟal improvements and we made significant progress on the growth policy update, which you can read about in more detail below. The Planning Department added several new staff members, including Community Resiliency Long Range Planner Tammy Zamoyski and Short Term Rental Specialist Codi Evenson. We also promoted Lauren Macdonald to Planner I, Current Planning, from her role as an administraƟve assistant. Long Range Planning Update: Vision 2045 2024 was a busy and producƟve year for Vision Whitefish 2045, the city growth policy update! The year began with Whitefish High School Seniors presenƟng growth policy related ideas to the Community Development Board as their senior projects. StarƟng in February and lasƟng unƟl June, the city held 6 visioning sessions with the public which were aƩended by approximately 260 people. These sessions helped to develop the vision statement which forms the foundaƟon of the plan. Staff also coordinated with a consultant who completed an economic development study which will be used to create the economic development element. Coming into the fall, staff began releasing the first draŌ secƟons of the Planning & Building Department 2024 Annual Report (conƟnued on Page 2) ---PAGE BREAK--- Population Growth The most recent esƟmates for the Whitefish populaƟons is 9,163 which is a 15% increase from the 2020 census. This is less than the populaƟon growth from the 2010 to the 2020 census of 18%. Note that the populaƟon does not in- clude second homeowners and part-Ɵme residents. The populaƟon esƟmate for Flathead County is 113,679, an 8% from the 2020 census, and the state of Montana at 1,132,812 is a 4% increase from 2020. The city limits grew by 3.986 acres in 2024. In the last 10 years, the city has grown by 401.885 acres. “WhitefishÊcityÊlimitsÊhasÊincreasedÊbyÊ5%ÊinÊtheÊpastÊ10ÊyearsÊandÊoverÊ2,000Ê newÊresidentsÊnowÊcallÊWhitefishÊhome.” Vision 2045 (continued from page 1) Annexations plan for public review and community development board discussion. These draŌs include planning framework, background and climate, demographics, history, and a completed vision statement. Staff also completed the first draŌ plan element – environment, natural resources and hazards - and began releasing the first porƟons of the draŌ to the public and the Board for review and discussion. The remaining plan elements – public faciliƟes, transportaƟon, economic development, land use and housing - will be completed and reviewed in 2025 and early 2026. 2 Whiteϔish High School Senior Involvement in Growth Policy Update Short-Term Rental Permitting In 2024, the city hired a Short-Term Rental (STR) Specialist to track and monitor STR permiƫng and enforcement—including required ongoing safety inspecƟons. Overall, new STR permiƫng has dropped since a high of 160 new permits in 2020 to 51 new permits in 2024. There are currently, 396 acƟve short-term rental permits in city lim- its. In addiƟon, there were 76 STR enforcement acƟons. A STR viola- Ɵon could include operaƟng with- out a valid permit or operaƟng in a zoning district that does not permit rentals for less than 30 days. We have also acquired an enforcement program to help idenƟfy potenƟal violaƟons and ongoing compliance. ---PAGE BREAK--- Number of Lots Created In 2024, 70 new lots were cre- ated with Final Plat applica- Ɵons. This is an increase over last year and the most lots created since 2019. The num- ber of lots created last year through preliminary plat appli- caƟons was 76 lots—this was nearly flat from the previous two years. Land Use Permits The total number of land use per- mits processed in 2024 dropped for the third year in a row since 2021. There was a slight increase in Condi- Ɵonal Use Per- mits from 2023 and an increase in Architectural Review permits from 2023. Oth- erwise permiƫng was reduced or flat. 3 OpenÊSpaceÊAreaÊforÊFutureÊSubdivision 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Preliminary Plat: 3 6 10 7 5 Final Plat: 6 3 8 3 4 CUP: 17 25 28 6 8 PUD: 0 3 3 4 2 Architectural Review: 30 35 33 29 37 Zone Change: 0 3 7 5 1 Annex-Zone Change: 4 4 Variance: 1 8 7 6 6 WQ Permits: 1 0 2 0 1 Vendor: 6 2 2 6 1 Temporary Use: 0 0 0 0 2 Floodplain: 0 2 1 0 1 Lakeshore: 27 54 36 32 24 Subdivision ExempƟon: 17 17 21 21 23 Zoning Text Amend: 5 3 3 7 1 Subdivision Text Amend: 0 1 0 1 0 Lakeshore Text Amend: 0 0 0 1 0 Growth Policy Amend: 0 2 2 0 0 TOTAL: 113 164 163 132 121 ---PAGE BREAK--- Building permits in all cate- gories were down with the excepƟon of Single-Family ResidenƟal which was up by twelve (12) units. Total per- mits are less than half of the permits during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Building valuaƟon is also down for the third year in a row since the height of the pandemic. A number of projects are anƟcipated in 2025 as infra- structure and permiƫng were finalized in 2024. Building & Construction 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Single Family 92 129 57 24 36 Remodel—SFR 90 57 38 51 42 AddiƟon—SFR 29 28 27 27 18 Accessory Dwelling Unit 5 7 6 15 4 Townhome/Duplex 67 57 16 14 4 remodel—TH/DU/Duplex 0 0 0 0 0 AddiƟon—TH/DU 0 0 0 0 0 MulƟ-family 138 27 34 10 0 Remodel—MF 0 0 0 0 0 AddiƟon—MF 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL RESIDENTIAL UNITS 302 220 113 63 44 Electrical 231 329 164 163 157 Mechanical 189 288 175 183 161 Plumbing 225 296 130 139 141 TOTAL PERMITS 1118 1252 698 657 595 Commercial 14 1 12 5 1 Remodel—Com 34 27 32 23 28 AddiƟon—Com 4 6 7 3 3 TOTAL COMMERCIAL 52 34 51 31 32 Planning & Building Department PO Box 158 418 E 2nd Street Whitefish, MT 59937 (406) 863-2410 Housing and housing affordability con- Ɵnue to be an issue of great concern in 2024. The average residenƟal unit sold in the 59937-zip code in 2024 was $1,232,499 up from 2023. The median home price increased by $53,000 to $950,000. Similar to 2023, the average home price is not affordable for most locals. In order to afford the average home price, a household would need to have an annual income of $410,000. The 2024 average median income (AMI) for a family of four is $88,400. Total sales in the 59937-zip code were down to 278 from 314 in 2023. The 2022 Housing Needs Assessment idenƟfies 1, 310 units needed by 2030 to house our residents (515 ownership and 800 rentals units). Of the units needed, 74% need to be affordably priced for locals. Since 2016, 49 deed restricted rental units have been constructed and 49 deed restricted ownership. In 2024, an addiƟonal six ownership units were constructed. In 2025, a number of deed restricted units—both rental and ownership—are anƟcipated to be con- structed. In 2024, the Whitefish voters passed a measure to reallocate a porƟon of the 3% Resort Tax for Community Housing. CollecƟon of this tax will begin in 2025 and will be used to community housing programs. The state of Montana was awarded a PRO Housing Grant—the city will use its porƟon to update the Hous- ing Needs Assessment, analyze vacant lands, conduct a zoning for affordability study and conduct a local commute transit study for equitable housing de- velopment. Community Housing