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10/30/2019 A: Main 1/1 Ben Davis Ben Davis has become familiar with Whitefish city government while working on issues related to the city’s lack of affordable workforce housing. He says he’s running for City Council for the same reason he’s been working on housing issues — to contribute to his community. “I love this town,” he said. “It’s a wonderful place and it’s important that it stays that way. I want to make sure that we’re taking care of the folks that live in this town.” Davis is the chair of the Whitefish Housing Authority board of directors, chair of the city’s Strategic Housing Steering Committee and on the Board of Adjustments. He also serves on the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Davis moved here more than a half dozen years ago from Florida after several previous trips visiting Whitefish. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Florida. He is one of the owners of Seven Hills Construction, where he manages the company’s projects as a residential-focused general contractor. He says he’s at a place in his life where he wants to contribute to the community and be part of efforts that continue to keep Whitefish a wonderful place. Davis says his professional life and volunteer experience working on affordable housing has given him experience in an area that Council spends a lot of time dealing with — planning and zoning. “Council works on zoning and development issues,” he said. “I can provide a lot of experience when it comes to that in the context of Council.” Affordable housing Davis says Whitefish is on the right track when it comes to creating affordable workforce housing by creating a housing plan and working on the steps to implement that plan, but the outcomes of that work are still to be realized. He notes that real estate and development take years to occur and it will take time for the program to realize affordable housing as a result. “Success is measured in years,” he said. “The city and community made a good plan and is following through right now on that, but the work is not through yet.” If elected to Council, Davis says he will be required to resign from the Whitefish Housing Authority board, but he says housing is an issue he plans to continue to work on no matter what. He says the city’s inclusionary zoning housing program that requires all new residential development to include 20% deed-restricted affordable housing is just the beginning of the work for affordable housing and it will be important for the city to continue implementing other initiatives to bring housing. Growth Davis says one of his goals, if elected, is to ensure that the city is making changes to its zoning codes to ensure they are working in the right way for the town. “It’s critically important for the city to have growth management,” he said. “There are examples where planning could have been done better and the code is one of those subjects that can be looked at.” He says while Whitefish has done a lot to plan for growth, more can always be done. “For a town as popular as Whitefish you can’t stop growth,” he said. “That’s concerning, but Copyright 2019 Whitefish Pilot, Edition 10/9/2019 Wednesday, 10/09/2019 Page .A04