Council may extend area for growth policy

The Daily Inter Lake

Extending Kalispells growth policy boundary south to the Old School Station industrial park will be discussed at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a Kalispell City Council workshop.

Kalispells growth policy is a blueprint for planning the extensions of city service and territory.

A few weeks ago, the citys planning board recommended that the growth policy border be extended along U.S. 93 for one mile south of its present location (3/4 mile south of Cemetery Road). The proposed extension also would reach one mile east of U.S. 93 and two miles west of U.S. 93, while going roughly 1/4 mile south of Rocky Cliff Drive.

This growth policy area extension is prompted by the citys annexation last summer of the 55-acre Old School Station site, which is two miles south of current city limits. A privately owned industrial park is earmarked for that site.

The city council is scheduled to vote Nov. 7 on the planning boards recommendation.

Also Tuesday, the City Council is scheduled to:

-Discuss how it wants to approach tax-increment districts.

The city government has two proposed districts on the drawing board. One is an indefinitely delayed tax-increment district that would cover 25 blocks adjacent to the Kalispell Center Mall. The other would be for the Old School Station industrial park.

A tax-increment district is a economic development tool for a specific area for a specific time. Tax revenue from a districts tenants would be capped, meaning any tax income above that cap would be set aside for infrastructure improvements such as streets, sidewalks and utilities. The concept is that the set-aside money would be spent on improvements that will increase the long-term property tax revenue from that zone.

-Discuss an engineering study on how to manage odors from the citys sewage treatment plant, which will be expanding.