Kalispell targets state land as the fire-station site

The Daily Inter Lake

Kalispell's new fire station will be on the west side of U.S. 93, a location the city chose instead of waiting for Flathead Valley Community College to decide if it to sell land on the east side of the highway.

The city is moving ahead with leasing land from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, City Manager Jim Patrick said Monday.

The land is southwest of the new Lowe's building and the state agency already has offered the city a lease.

Kalispell would pay the state about $262,000 and would receive a lease in perpetuity.

The city's first choice was to locate the new station closer to the college to create a training center there that college students could use if the school added a fire science program.

But the college's timetable for considering how a fire station fits in with the school's future was longer than the city's construction schedule allows.

Voters in November approved a $3 million bond issue for the new fire station and the city wants to begin construction before costs rise, Patrick explained.

Kalispell still will consider cooperating in training ventures with the college, Patrick said.

The fire department plans to begin construction on the station in April and open the building in spring 2006.