Board considers Town Center annexation

The Daily Inter Lake

A request for annexation of Glacier Town Center will come before the Kalispell Planning Board again tonight.

The board will resume its discussion of Wolford Development Montana's request to annex 485 acres into Kalispell, along with zoning and zoning modifications to build a shopping complex and residential development on that property.

The board held a public hearing on the proposal on Nov. 27.

During a meeting that starts at 7 p.m. today, the board will discuss feedback from that hearing as well as the proposal submitted by Wolford.

While the project's designated public hearing is closed, the board always holds a generic public hearing at the beginning of each meeting.

Wolford has requested annexation of 485 acres north of West Reserve Drive and east of U.S. 93 North. Its request calls for 322 acres to be set aside for commercial use and 163 acres for mixed residential and commercial use.

The project's centerpiece is a 577,000-square-foot shopping complex anchored by three anchor stores of roughly 100,000 square feet each.

At the Nov. 27 hearing, the greatest subjects of contention involved road access to Glacier Town Center:

. Wolford Development wants to install no more than four access streets along Glacier Town Center's northern border, while the city staff recommends seven northern access roads.

. Some Planning Board members want to keep traffic lights to a minimum along U.S. 93 North to maintain high-speed traffic flow between West Reserve Drive and Whitefish. Wolford Development, however, wants at least two traffic lights at Glacier Town Center's three proposed entrances along the highway.

The Planning Board meets at Kalispell City Hall.