Lawsuit filed over uses of Courthouse East

Kalispell is heading to court over the future of the old Courthouse East building.

A long-running dispute over the future of the old Courthouse East building in Kalispell is heading to court.

Gelinas Development LLC acquired the property from Flathead County in 2002 for $175,000.

The 92-year-old facility, located just north of Hedges School between Fifth and Sixth avenues east, has previously been used as a hospital and as county offices. Parts of it are contaminated with asbestos and will have to be demolished; other sections can simply be remodeled.

Gelinas wants to sell at least a portion of the building for use as a health-care facility or professional offices.

However, the company says potential buyers are being scared off by certain neighbors who want the property to revert to single-family homes or other uses more consistent with the historic character of the area.

Consequently, the developer is suing the city of Kalispell and Rebecca Jones, one of the neighbors. The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment affirming that the property can be used for health-care or office-related uses, and enjoining Jones and other neighbors from having any further say in the matter.

"We're having to take this action because several neighbors have threatened to sue," said Randall Snyder, a Bigfork attorney representing Gelinas. "There are interested buyers, but they aren't comfortable purchasing and developing the property under threat of litigation. We want a court order to end this controversy."

Although Kalispell is named as a defendant in the matter, the city agrees with Gelinas and has formally stated that property can be used for any health-care-related enterprise, or for commercial office space.

"They had to file against the city so that they can go to a buyer with a court decision saying the neighbors won't be able to hold the buyer up," Kalispell City Attorney Charlie Harball said. "From the city's standpoint, we'd just like to see the place demolished and have everyone move on."

Gelinas previously proposed building a 24-unit duplex townhouse subdivision on the property.

About 50 neighbors attended the Kalispell City Planning Board public hearing on that request last November. Most spoke in opposition, suggesting that duplexes or office space would create traffic safety problems and detract from the east side's historic character.

Developer Matt Gelinas said converting the property to a small number of single-family home sites - as most of the neighbors wanted - wasn't feasible, given the cost of demolishing the aged building.

"It's going to cost well over a million dollars to clean up the site," he said during the meeting. "It's a 60,000-square-foot albatross that has to come down."

The neighbors were particularly unsympathetic to that argument, though, saying Gelinas made a mistake buying the building and that it wasn't their responsibility to make him whole.

"I don't think it's the responsibility of the neighbors to endure a zone change [for the townhouse project] simply to ensure the economic success of the developer," said Jones, who was one of 17 people who spoke in opposition to the proposal.

Gelinas withdrew his duplex request.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com