Kalispell annexes 81-acre Valley Ranch

The Daily Inter Lake

Valley Ranch is now part of Kalispell and the city is on the brink of having less regulatory control than some council members are comfortable with.

The Kalispell City Council voted 8-1 on Monday to annex the 81-acre site north of the city. Then it gave preliminary approval 8-1 to R-2 single-family housing zoning with no planned-unit development attached.

Council member Randy Kenyon cast the dissenting vote in both cases.

Valley Ranch subdivision, owned by Gateway Properties Inc., is planned to hold 222 single-family houses, plus 80 assisted-living units and 20 independent-living units inside an assisted-living complex. It's located just south of Ponderosa Estates, a populated unincorporated area with big lots.

Gateway originally submitted a planned-unit development to allow homes to be more densely packed than allowed by single-family zoning in portions of the project. In return, Gateway said it would put bigger lots next to Ponderosa Estates.

A planned-unit development is a type of contract in which the city would relax some zoning requirements in return for the developer's promise to install mitigation measures.

The majority of Ponderosa Estates residents oppose major parts of the Valley Ranch project. Density and traffic volumes are the biggest complaints.

Within the past three weeks, Gateway withdrew the planned-unit development proposal, and requested just single-family zoning. That withdrawal prevents some of Gateway's plans for denser home concentrations, but it also removes proposed mitigating restrictions elsewhere in the project.

Sharon DeMeester of Ponderosa Estates; Bob Horne, a private planner working with some Ponderosa residents; and Mayre Flowers of Citizens for a Better Flathead protested that removing the planned-unit development would give Kalispell's government less control over how Valley Ranch is built.

They asked for an R-1 zone for the site, which would create minimum lot sizes of one acre. They contended the zoning could then be changed as Valley Ranch's plans become more solidified.

However, council members rejected the R-1 idea because one-acre lots don't fit well with an expanding city, and don't pull their weight in paying taxes for the roads and utilities needed to serve them.

However, some council members, including Kenyon, also worried about the lack of a planned-unit development contract leading to less control over how Valley Ranch is developed.

Some council members hope that Gateway later will submit a planned-unit development proposal. Tom Jentz, city planning director, said Gateway has indicated it may do so because it still wants smaller lots in some areas than allowed by an R-2 zone.

City Manager Jim Patrick said: "We can encourage [incentives], but we cannot require a [planned unit development]."

Also Monday, the council:

• Annexed the 181-acre Flathead Village Greens, with preliminary approval to zone for R-2 single-family housing. This project is along the west side of U.S. 93 across the highway from Valley Ranch. No specific construction plans have been unveiled.

Monday's annexations of Flathead Village Greens and Valley Ranch will connect Silverbrook Estates - a 325-acre chunk of Kalispell two miles north of the rest of city - to the main part of Kalispell whenever the city annexes the 481-acre Glacier Town Center site.

When Glacier Town Center is annexed, Kalispell will have a crooked finger of incorporated land winding around U.S. 93, jutting three miles north into rural Flathead County.

• Set a July 16 public hearing on a growth-policy change that would convert roughly 30 acres from industrial use to a residential use allowing up to four dwellings per acre in the 139-acre Willow Creek project southwest of Kalispell - bordered by Foy's Lake Road on the south, Ashley Creek on the north, and the future U.S. 93 bypass on the east.

The council expects to vote on annexation and zoning for the Willow Creek project no earlier than July 30.

Developers Wayne and Hubert Turner have reduced the number of proposed homes on this project from 711 to 580 - 396 single-family houses and 184 condominium units.

The Kalispell Planning Board will discuss the project's preliminary plans and the number of dwellings at its July 10 meeting before making a recommendation that will likely to go to the council in August. Planning-board members have hinted that 450 homes would be more acceptable.

• Approved final plans to build 47 houses and 20 townhouses on 17 acres of Mountain Vista Estates Phase 2, which is on the north side of Three Mile Drive.