Council looks for solutions to license problem
A liquor license and an annexed property continued to tangle Monday night when the Kalispell City Council Monday night discussed the Old School Station industrial park.
Councilman Bob Herron told the council he will make a motion at the Aug. 1 meeting to change the park's effective annexation date so a local couple gets a fair chance at a county liquor license.
Tim Quigley and Nancy Skene were applying for a county liquor license for their Somers pub when the park's annexation put them within five miles of the park - the distance for which the Montana State Department of Revenue mandates a city license.
They previously asked the city to temporarily revoke the annexation so they can get a county license.
The Montana Department of Revenue on June 15 gave the couple a conditional approval, so they had only to have their property pass health, building and fire-code inspections to receive the license, the couple said at an earlier meeting.
Kalispell annexed the industrial park, which is near the intersection of Demersville and Rocky Cliff roads, southeast of Snow Line Tree Co., on June 6. The Department of Revenue didn't know about the annexation until after the couple received conditional approval, Quigley said.
A few other business owners have told council members they're in similar positions, council members said.
Herron wants to change the date of annexation from June to a future date that would give Quigley and Skene time to secure their license.
Annexations are considered effective once the city files them, unless another date is specified as the annexation date, City Manager Jim Patrick said. The city needs to see if it legally can change the date in this case, he said.
Developers Andy Miller and Paul Wachholz told the council they want to see some resolution to Quigley and Skene's problem, but they're concerned changing the annexation status in any way could hinder pending business deals with park tenants. However, they're willing to discuss options with the city, Wachholz said.
"We want to be fair and decent," he said. "And we want to be wanted" by the community.
Mayor Pam Kennedy instructed city legal staffers to meet with the developers, pub owners and their attorney to discuss possible solutions.
The motion to extend annexation will either come from Herron or will be placed on the agenda as its own item on Aug. 1. Patrick said he anticipates putting something related to the park and its annexation on the agenda, but isn't yet sure precisely what the proposal or wording would be.
That meeting starts at 7 p.m. in City Hall.
Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterling@dailyinterlake.com