Council postpones decision on armory

Buffer requirement snags Ohio-based developer's plans for casino in hotel complex

Questions about a required 300-foot buffer between casinos and parks prompted the Kalispell City Council to delay negotiating the proposed sale of the old Montana National Guard armory to a hotel developer.

The council voted 5-2 on Monday to delay making a decision until April 17.

The council must decide whether the city and Ohio-based Gateway Hospitality Group should negotiate an agreement for the developer to buy the 3.44-acre armory site for $1.216 million and lease 1.43 acres of city land at $10,000 annually for parking. Such an agreement would be tentative, because the council would then review and vote on it.

The developer wants to build a complex that includes a four-story 148-room Hilton Garden Hotel, an upscale 175-seat Blue Canyon restaurant, an 8,000-square-foot conference center and a 2,000-square-foot casino.

The complex - next to Kalispell City Airport - would be across U.S. 93 from Lions Park.

Meanwhile, Kalispell's zoning laws require a 300-foot buffer between casinos and parks.

Gateway says it needs the casino to survive financially because it must buy an existing liquor license from another business, which is standard procedure in Montana. But liquor licenses cost several hundred thousand dollars, which is why most Montana taverns have low-overhead casinos to make up the liquor-license costs.

Gateway sees the lack of a casino as a deal breaker.

"Gaming machines are the only way they can recoup this very tremendous cost," council member Bob Hafferman said.

Council members wondered:

-Is the 300-foot distance measured from the edge of the property to the park, or from the edge of the casino to the park? They wondered whether the casino could be moved farther away from the park while staying within the armory site.

. How many of the casinos within Kalispell are more than 300 feet from a park, school or church?

-Should the 300-foot requirement be eliminated from Kalispell's zoning laws?

A majority of the council appeared favorable to selling the site to Gateway if the buffer question is resolved.

"This is such a good proposal, it may not hurt to table it," Council member Bob Herron said.

Herron, Jim Atkinson, Randy Kenyon, Duane Larson and Tim Kluesner voted to delay decisions until April 17. Hafferman and Hank Olson wanted to vote on the negotiations matter Monday. Mayor Pam Kennedy and council member Kari Gabriel were absent.

Two Kalispell residents, Alan Ruby and Chuck Cook, spoke against allowing a casino at that site, contending that Kalispell is saturated with casinos.