Willow Creek vote planned

The Daily Inter Lake

After several months of back-and-forth changes, developers of the 140-acre Willow Creek project will seek annexation at tonight's Kalispell City Council meeting.

This project southwest of Kalispell has struggled for months to get the blessing of the city Planning Board, obtaining it Nov. 13 after trimming the proposed number of homes from 710 to 531.

The 531-home proposal calls for 361 single-family houses, 18 townhouses, 152 condominium units and a new major street to connect Foy's Lake Road with U.S. 2 West.

The council will vote on annexation, zoning matters and preliminary plans for the project.

The Planning Board's main qualm - which was eliminated last month - was that the project crammed homes too densely within the 140 acres.

Many neighbors have objected to the housing density of the project and its potential for run-off water seeping into their lands.

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

-Discuss, but not vote on, plans to expand the city's airport.

-Vote on a city staff recommendation to lease a phone and data-transfer system from Cerium Networks for four years - with the first three years costing $9,188 a month and the final year costing $8,200 a month. After the fourth year, the city can chose to buy the system for $1, with a subsequent monthly maintenance fee of $4,352.