Growth queries puzzle Kalispell Planning Board
Growth-control complications from a proposed annexation of a proposed auto-sales center stymied the Kalispell Planning Board on Tuesday.
The complications sprout from:
-Eisinger Properties Inc. wanting to move its Honda and Chevrolet dealership to a proposed auto mall at the northeast corner of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive. That site is just outside Kalispell city limits. But Eisinger wants Kalispell to annex the site so he can hook up to the city's water and sewage systems.
-A commercial enterprise is the most logical use for this site, city officials and Planning Board members agree.
-Kalispell's growth policy governing how it expands north from West Reserve Drive still is being worked on. This policy will map out what the city will require for traffic control, landscaping, bike paths, setback distances from highways, and other growth controls.
However, the city's northward growth policy is still a few months from completion. It will cover potential annexations reaching north from West Reserve Drive to as far as Church Drive and Birch Grove Road.
That means the city won't have a legal hammer for few months to force northside rural development projects - which want to annex into Kalispell - to follow Kalispell's wishes on landscaping, setbacks and similar matters.
The bottom line: If the Kalispell City Council approves annexing the 15.4-acre Eisinger site, the land's owners - Eisinger, and Lyle and Joanne Davis - could not be held to many site-development requirement until the new growth policy is adopted.
That potential loophole split the Planning Board, 2-2, on Thursday on recommending that the site be annexed before adoption of the growth policy. This is despite all four agreeing that a commercial operation is the best use for that location.
Bryan Schutt and Bob Albert voted to recommend annexation. Timothy Norton and Rick Hull voted against the recommendation. Kari Gabriel and John Hinchey were absent. A seventh board seat is vacant and is expected to be filled soon.
The tie vote means the Eisinger annexation request will go to the City Council with no recommendation from the Planning Board.
However, if the council approves the annexation, the Planning Board recommended 4-0 on Tuesday, the site should be zoned for commercial use.
If the annexation occurs soon, construction of the auto mall likely would begin in the fall.
Also on Tuesday, the Planning Board:
-Recommended 4-0 that the City Council approve a request from Spokane-based KVC Development to lease 2.9 acres from Montana's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to build a 104-room Holiday Inn Express Hotel there.
The site is northwest of the Lowe's store in northern Kalispell.
City approval is required according to an earlier agreement between Kalispell and Montana that addresses state-owned land in this segment of Kalispell. If the city approves the leasing, groundbreaking is expected this fall with the hotel scheduled to open in summer 2007.
-Recommended 4-0 that the council approve a conditional-use permit that would allow Flathead High School to build a 12,400-square-foot student commons and food court on its site. The addition will increase eating room but not the number of students at the school, city officials said.
Much of work will be inside the existing building. The cafeteria will be in the east end of the building, which will expand from its east-side main door.
-Delayed discussing whether to change the city's zoning law requiring a 300-foot buffer between a new casino and schools, parks, homes and other casinos. This will be discussed at a future workshop session.
The City Council requested this review, suggesting that barriers such as four-lane highways, rivers and steep hills could substitute for a 300-foot buffer.
Planning Board members said this request came after the 300-foot buffer requirement popped up as the council tried to accommodate a proposed hotel-restaurant-casino conference center at the old Montana National Guard armory, which is across U.S. 93 South from Lions Park. The developer wanted a small casino at the site, saying this was a deal breaker. The council granted an exemption - with some strings attached - to the proposed casino.
Board members wondered whether such a major casino-buffer dilemma will surface again more than rarely.
Meanwhile, the city is on the brink of selling the armory to Gateway Hospitality Group if the company agrees to some final council tweaks of the sales agreement.
-Recommended 4-0 that the council grant a conditional-use permit to Trinity Lutheran Church for it to build a youth center on its site. The center would be open to the public.