Foys Lake Road plan considered

By JOHN STANG

The Daily Inter Lake

Are 711 houses are too many for a 139-acre site southwest of Kalispell?

Kalispell's city planners and part of its Planning Board say: Yes.

But the site's developers say: That is the only scenario that makes economic sense.

Developers Wayne and Hubert Turner have an option to buy 139 acres currently owned by the O'Neil Family Trust north of Foys Lake Road, west of the proposed U.S. 93 Bypass route and south of Ashley Creek - just outside of Kalispell.

The Turners propose building 711 houses in that sloped Willow Creek area, along with two parks, plus a zone of 216 storage units along with a wall that would separate the homes from the bypass. The houses would be earmarked for people buying their first homes - a market drastically underserved in the Kalispell area.

The developers want Willow Creek to be annexed with allowances made for them to build homes on 4,000-square-foot lots in an area that the city staff believe lots should not be legally allowed to be smaller than 7,200 square feet.

Three members of Kalispell's seven-person Planning Board showed up at a Tuesday briefing session.

All three liked that fact that the Turners want to build homes affordable to lower-middle class and young people southwest of Kalispell and want to seek annexation into the city.

But those three board members - Tim Norton, Rick Hull and Bryan Schutt - echoed the city's planning staff's concerns that too much would be crammed into the site.

Wayne Turner said: " What we're trying to do is build an affordable neighborhood."

The Turners contended that the lots need to be 4,000 square feet so they can be individually sold cheaply enough that someone wanting to build an entry-level house can afford the price of the land. If the lots are in the 7,200-to-8,000-square-foot range, then the selling price of each lot would be greater than someone wanting to buy a new entry-level house can afford.

However, two area residents - Lewis Savik and Pete Wessel - voiced concerns about extra cars from 711 homes entering and leaving Willow Creek, saying that would clog traffic along Foys Lake Road. Planning Board members echoed that concern, saying the huge amount of extra traffic would overwhelm Foys Lake Road.

The Planning Board members suggested that a northern route to U.S. 2 should be explored to divert some of the traffic off Foys Lake Road.

But Wayne Turner said a railroad track blocked that route, and was pessimistic about convincing the railroad to OK a new road cross the tracks.

Another dispute involves a parks department request for a 200-foot-wide buffer between Ashley Creek and the houses to filter out fertilizer chemicals from going into the narrow stream. Ashley Creek has problems with absorbing pollutants further upstream, and it flows by the city's sewage plant where all of Kalispell's and Evergreen's treated waste water is discharged back into the creek.

The Turners contend that buffer could be narrower, especially if a berm is added.

The proposed Willow Creek subdivision has roughly 22 acres of parks and open spaces in it. But the city planners contend much of the open space next to Ashley Creek is in a flood plain and cannot be legitimately counted as park areas. However, the Turners contend that children can easily play in the flood plain and on some slopes - making those segments legitimate recreational spots.

Also, the parks department wants to expand a 2.5-acre park in the middle of the proposed subdivision to five acres.

Board chairman Norton noted that three members don't make a majority of the board. But he said Tuesday's threesome need only one more vote to recommend against the current Willow Creek plan before sending it to the city council.

The Turners said they would look into some traffic mitigation measures.

Hubert Turner said: "We'll probably tinker with the plan and try to push on."