The Daily Inter Lake

Council to discuss annexation request

A landowner wants the Kalispell City Council to overrule a Planning Board recommendation - and seeks approval for a proposed 16-lot subdivision to be annexed on the city's southeast side.

Gary Priest wants Kalispell to annex almost 4.5 acres east of Willow Glen Drive , south of Green Ridge Drive and west of Howard Drive.

His plan calls for 16 lots - each 9,600 square feet - an 8,500-square-foot park and a narrow cul-de-sac road into the subdivision from Howard Drive.

On Nov. 14, the city Planning Board voted to delay action for as long as 90 days on his request to give Priest time to address the concerns of his neighbors.

These concerns included that the subdivision would have a significantly greater density of houses than the surrounding area; a potentially dangerous traffic problem could be created at the intersection of Green Ridge and Willow Glen drives; and the project might create stormwater drainage troubles.

The project is several hundred feet north of the Leisure Heights subdivision, which had major drainage and flooding problems last winter that partly were caused by surrounding construction.

The Planning Board also wanted plans drawn up on how to connect Priest's subdivision to the neighborhoods to the south. The board also wants the proposed 8,500-square-foot park to be expanded to 20,000 square feet.

Meanwhile, Priest chose to take his proposal directly to the City Council. Typically, annexation requests and subdivision plans receive "yes" or "no" recommendations from the Planning Board before such issues go to the council for approval or rejection.

Tonight's council meeting is a workshop session, during which no votes legally are allowed. The earliest that this issue could go to a formal council hearing and vote is Dec. 18.

Also at 7 p.m. today, the council is scheduled to discuss:

-Whether to abandon 150 feet of alley between Fourth Avenue WN and Fifth Avenue WN so Flathead Industries can use the site to build part of a new thrift store.

-Installing a policy to reimburse property owners to a limited extent for damages caused by sewer or water line backups that are beyond the owners' control. This happens between two and five times a year, the city staff said.

Ways to finance this proposal include adding 25 cents to a resident's bimonthly utility bill, or adding 1 cent for every 1,000 gallons of water used.