Petition targets Kalispell growth plan

By JOHN STANG

The Daily Inter Lake

A proposed initiative would significantly cut back how much commercial development that Kalispell's government plans to allow just north of town.

The proposal also would require Kalispell to study the impacts on city services and on businesses elsewhere in town before annexing any land in the almost 13 square miles north of West Reserve Drive.

The bottom line: A substitute is being proposed for Kalispell's recently adopted changes in its growth policy to the north. The initiative, among other things, would prevent the proposed Glacier Mall from being developed within city limits.

This is what has happened:

. Roxanna Brothers of Kalispell submitted a petition in late August to set up a referendum to repeal the changes the Kalispell City Council approved on Aug. 7 to the growth policy. That petition needs 1,541 signatures of Kalispell voters by Nov. 20 to put that proposed revocation on a ballot.

. A few days later, Brothers submitted a second petition to put an initiative on the same ballot that would install a different policy covering the city's growth to the north. That second petition also needs 1,541 signatures. Government officials are trying to pin down the legal deadline for those signatures.

The double petition drive is prompted by the legal requirement that the council-approved policy be repealed before a new initiative-driven policy can take its place.

Brothers declined Wednesday to discuss the two petitions, but said she would publicly talk about them later.

"We're just trying to get all of our ducks in a row," Brothers said. "We're not a secretive organization. We're just some concerned citizens" putting the petition drives together.

Tom Jentz, city planning director, has just started studying the detailed eight-page substitute policy. He said it could take a few weeks before he can have a detailed analysis and comparison of the initiative's proposed policy with the one the council adopted on Aug. 7.

The city's adopted policy went through a few months of discussion by the Kalispell Planning Board and its staff before the council reviewed it. The council briefly discussed the initiative petition on Monday.

"The initiative is a whole referendum on this council and this process," council member Bob Herron said. "This document is flat-out nuts."

He criticized the initiative's proposed growth policy changes for not going through extensive public comments.

Last week, the Kalispell Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors voiced support for the policy adopted on Aug. 7.

The Aug. 7 changes in the city's growth policy addressed 8,227 acres - almost 13 square miles - north of West Reserve Drive, east of the Stillwater River, west of U.S. 2, and south of a line roughly defined by Church Drive and Birch Grove Road.

West Reserve Drive marks Kalispell's current northern border.

The city has no direct say over this area extending roughly three miles to Church Drive and Birch Grove Road.

But the city owns the sewer system that most developers north of town likely would seek access to. Those developers are expected eventually to request that the city annex their lands.

This gives Kalispell plenty of clout over how this area should be developed. And the changed growth policy maps out what the city government wants to see in this area.

In broad strokes, the new growth policy calls for most commercial and industrial development to be kept close to the current city limits. Meanwhile, the city wants housing to dominate the rest of the area, except for small neighborhood commercial zones at key crossroads.

Most of the growth policy changes drew little or no public opposition in City Council meetings and hearings.

The exception was 600 acres - dubbed "KN-1" - near the northeast corner of West Reserve Drive and U.S. 93. The majority of that land is controlled by developer Bucky Wolford, who wants to build an enclosed shopping mall and retail center there.

So far, three proposals have materialized on how much commercial growth should be allowed in those 600 acres. The first two were:

. The Kalispell Planning Board's recommended that the site be limited to 25 percent for commercial development, 25 percent for office and related uses, and the rest for houses and open spaces. This compares to Flathead County's approval of 274 acres to be set aside for commercial use.

. The Kalispell City Council Aug. 7 growth policy changes, which allow up to 45 percent of the 600-acre area to be used for commercial development and up to 25 percent for a mix of residential, commercial, office and industrial uses. Up to 50 percent could be used for housing and open spaces. Essentially, if one use reaches its allowed limit, some other use won't be able to.

Herron spearheaded the adoption of that part of the Aug. 7 policy, which the council supported 8-1. He said those percentages would concentrate northward commercial development in one area, discouraging it from spreading elsewhere to the north.

The third proposal for the 600-acre KN-1 area comes from the initiative.

That would create a subdistrict of no more than 120 acres within the 600-acre area. Commercial development would be limited to 30 percent of those 120 acres under the initiative's proposal - totaling 36 acres for commercial use.

The initiative's proposed growth policy would limit a commercial building or a set of connected commercial buildings to 60,000 square feet - drastically smaller than the 750,000-square-foot enclosed mall with anchor stores that Wolford initially proposed. Wolford's project has been delayed by litigation, and detailed specifics on the mall have not been submitted yet to the city or county.

Other major differences between the city's new policy and the initiative include:

. The initiative calls for any annexation to be studied for its long- and short-term effect on jobs, taxes and businesses elsewhere in Kalispell, especially on the downtown area.

. The initiative calls for any annexation to be studied for how it affects city services.

. The initiative calls for any annexed residential area to include features that address the city's affordable housing needs.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com