Adding a square mile to Kalispell

Annexation near for Starling project

The biggest housing development project in Kalispell's history appears likely to be annexed into the city this summer.

However, many questions and some potential tweaking remain.

A partnership of Phoenix-based The Aspen Group and the Grosswiler family - which owns the land - wants to build roughly 3,000 homes on one square mile west of Glacier High School over the next 20 years.

The Aspen Group is requesting that Kalispell annex the site - dubbed "Starling" - with zoning for R-3 single-family housing and a planned unit development agreement. A planned unit development is a type of contract in which the city relaxes some zoning restrictions in return for the developer's promise to install mitigation measures.

The Kalispell City Council might hold a public hearing on the annexation, zoning and planned unit development requests on July 2 or July 16 - depending on how quickly the city staff can answer questions raised at a Monday council workshop session.

After the hearing, the council will vote on the Starling project's requests.

Also sometime in July, the council will discuss and vote on Starling's preliminary plans for the first of possibly 20 phases.

The 63-acre first phase proposes to create 236 lots in Starling's northwest corner at the intersection of West Reserve Drive and Stillwater Road.

Most lots would be for single-family houses, along with seven lots for multiple-family buildings and 32 for nonresidential or commercial use.

Questions and new wrinkles that surfaced Monday included:

. The Aspen Group researching whether it can make condominiums available in the $150,000 to $165,000 range. Previously, the project anticipated its lowest-priced homes ranging from $165,000 to $180,000.

This is significant because Flathead housing observers consider $150,000 as the upper limit in homes affordable to households making the median annual income of $49,000 or less. "Median" means half of the Flathead's households earn less than $49,000 a year.

The Aspen Group' marketing analyses have led it to propose putting 45 percent of its 3,000 homes in the $150,000 to $250,000 range, which it considers entry level. Another 45 percent would be in the $250,000 to $450,000 range, with the remaining being more expensive.

"We are marketing to the needs of Kalispell right now … The current strength of the market is in the entry-level price range," said Greg Stratton, The Aspen Group's vice president in charge of its Montana ventures.

. Habitat For Humanity and Starling working on setting aside five lots in the first phase for Habitat-sponsored homes for lower-income families.

. The density issue being linked to whether the site has R-2 or R-3 single-family housing zoning.

The currently rural land is zoned for four houses per acre, and Starling's plans for 3,000 homes on 640 acres translates to 4.7 homes per acre. The planned unit development contract is needed to reach the 4.7-home-per-acre density.

A planned unit development with an R-2 zone can accommodate up to five homes per acre, while an R-3-zoned planned unit development can go up to seven homes per acre.

The city's planning staff and planning board recommended an R-3 zone because that follows Kalispell's pattern with similar but smaller annexation projects.

But Mayre Flowers, representing Citizens For A Better Flathead, argued that a R-2 zone carries a better guarantee that Starling will stick with its 4.7-home-per-acre plans over the next 20 years.

. Several northern neighbors contending that the council should send Starling's plans back to the Kalispell Planning Board to handle several questions - arguing many details have not been adequately studied and delaying two months should not hurt the project. Those neighbors on Monday appeared ready to accept Starling if more study time is made available and if they could negotiate some changes.

These seven households contended The Aspen Group treated their concerns as an afterthought following the Planning Board's OK of the Starling project.

"What you have in front of you has absolutely nothing of the neighbors' input into it. … We have not come to ask you to stop development, but to ask for small but meaningful changes," Marc Nevas said.

The same neighbors - who live on lots of one to five acres - asked Starling to move the less-dense parts of Phase One to border their properties along West Reserve Drive and to move Starling's denser neighborhoods away from West Reserve Drive.

They also wanted more airtight assurances that sufficient parks and open spaces will be scattered across the 640 acres.

And they didn't want the proposed commercial spaces - 9 percent of the one square mile - to accommodate much beyond neighborhood shops, believing Starling should not siphon business from Kalispell's downtown.

. Seven West Valley neighbors of Starling voiced support of the project, as did the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and five additional West Valley people with ties to Starling or its construction.

"I'm convinced it's going to be one of the finest neighborhoods in Kalispell when it's completed," said Mike Blend, a local builder.

. Council member Bob Hafferman wanting written input on Starling's sought-after zoning modifications from the West Valley Land Planning committee and from Kalispell's fire and police departments.

. Council member Randy Kenyon wanting a look at how the council can create more public review of huge projects such as Starling, saying giant developments need a more detailed public process than smaller and more routine projects.

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