Kalispell Planning Board
The Kalispell Planning Board on Tuesday night tabled the Westwood Park subdivision after several neighbors of the project talked about drainage problems in the area and other concerns.
Denman Construction of Whitefish hopes to build five three-unit townhomes, eight two-unit townhomes and two single-family homes on 9 acres at the northern terminus of Corporate Way, between Two Mile Drive and U.S. 2 West. The property is near the Greenbriar subdivision.
About 15 neighbors attended the meeting. Mark Drew, a Greenbriar subdivision resident, spoke on behalf of several neighbors and gave a PowerPoint presentation that highlighted their concerns. He stressed that he and others aren't opposed to the project, but they want to see certain aspects considered before building began.
"We just want something we can live with," he said.
Drew and others said they worry that Westwood Park would create more drainage problems on their properties. He showed pictures of various properties that had standing water.
"From what the neighbors showed," Kalispell planner Narda Wilson said, "there are water problems in that area that need to be looked at."
Developers Craig Denman and Bill Rice have not hired an engineer to do a drainage plan - and theirs is a timeline that is standard procedure for most developers, Wilson said. Developers typically wait until they have preliminary plat approval before beginning engineering work.
"There's water out there," Rice acknowledged, "but everything will be done to keep it off their properties."
Neighbors also said the project is too dense. They prefer the individual townhomes be farther apart than the developers' plans show and maybe with fewer units.
"It's an awfully big development for 9 acres," Lucy Rude said.
The property is zoned low-density residential apartments, and multi-family housing (such as the three-unit townhomes) is conditionally permitted, so the developers are not exceeding the 12-dwelling-an-acre maximum for the zoning.
Some neighbors also said they were concerned parts of Westwood Park are in the flood plain, there would be more traffic and that the developers would need to provide an adequate landscape buffer between Greenbriar and the proposed project.
The board voted to table the developers' request for a planned unit development. The board directed Denman and Rice to rework their plan to address the questions raised.
The developers can bring their plan to the board again at any time. Rice said it would be a few months before they tried again.
In other matters, the board recommended that the City Council approve:
-The preliminary plat approval of a phase of Blue Heron Estates, which is north of Three Mile Drive and west of Stillwater Road.
-The initial zoning designation of community business and annexation for half of an acre on the northeast corner of Eighth Avenue East North and Washington Street.
-The preliminary plat approval of Appleway Business Park, a six-lot commercial subdivision and an initial zoning designation request for 2 acres on the south side of Appleway Drive and west of Meridian Road.
-The initial zoning designation of industrial-commercial for Montana Venture Partners' Old School Station industrial park. The 55-acre property is east of Rocky Cliff Drive and U.S. 93 South.