Board recommends coffee business approval
A video rental store's request to add a drive-up coffee business got the thumbs-up from the Columbia Falls planning board Tuesday night.
So did two development proposals that would add 83 new housing units at Meadow Lake Resort.
All three will be up for public hearings at Monday night's City Council meeting.
But a proposal regulating design for commercial buildings was forwarded to the city attorney for closer scrutiny, and will be brought back to the planning board's April 10 meeting for continued discussion.
. Billy Joe and Hallie Davis, under their business name of Double D Enterprises, Inc., already opened Got 2B Video in leased space at 411 Ninth Street West, the old Pizza Hut building on U.S. 2.
Advertising "movies from G to XXX ratings," the business rents regular movies and sells X-rated adult movies.
They are requesting a conditional use permit to add drive-through beverage service and, as Hallie Davis told the board Tuesday, drive-through movie rental returns.
After questioning parking and traffic routing at the site, the board unanimously recommended approving the permit on the condition that existing non-conforming entrance, exit and clearances are acceptable under existing laws.
. Meadow Lake Development Corp. received zoning several years ago for multi-family apartments on about six east-side acres between St. Andrews Drive and Spyglass Hill Way. Late last year it received city council approval to scale that back to 13 single-family homes, but was required to seek a zone change from RA-1 to R-4.
After studying Meadow Lake's overall development plan in adjacent areas, the city recommended a change to R-3 zoning. A planned unit development overlay allows two of those lots to be smaller than the required minimum.
The new development will be called The Ridge, a change from the original Meadow Lake Estates Phase 17B.
Fire Chief Robert Webber recommended doubling side-yard setbacks from five feet to 10 feet to add a fire buffer zone between homes.
Mark Johnson of Meadow Lake Development explained that front yards would have a 20-foot instead of 25-foot setback, with back yards fringed by the golf course's open space.
Webber said he is working with Meadow Lake to establish a fire station at the resort in the future. It is a long-held city goal, with the potential of Meadow Lake donating land or cash.
Planning board member Russ Vukonich said the city eventually must require Meadow Lake to bring the resort's maintenance road to the east up to city standards. It now meets only the narrow width required by the county.
The board unanimously voted to recommend the zone change to R-3 and the planned unit development overlay.
. Spyglass Gardens is a 7-acre development just southwest of there, where Meadow Lake Development wants to erect seven buildings with 10 condominium units each. The 70 units would be sold on a vacation-usage basis.
It lies off the south end of Spyglass Hill Loop and fronts onto the fareway stretching along Tamarack Lane. The resort's recreation center and pool are at the northwest side.
Fifty-five percent of the land would be in open space, with paved, covered parking along the buildings and an extra parking space for each unit. Master homeowner association rules would send boat, trailer and RV parking off-site. A pedestrian path links it to surrounding development.
It originally was called Meadow Lake Country Club Estates Phase 9.
Land planner Bruce Lutz explained a new plan for road connections. Noting that the recently approved 182-unit Meadow Lake Northwest subdivision now is called Tamarack Heights, he said Tamarack Heights' main road will extend along the north and connect with housing to the east - including The Ridge and Spyglass Gardens.
Webber recommended that each of the three-level condominium units have fire sprinklers, as his department is not well-equipped to rescue from the upper levels.
With more potential residents, board members said there is an even greater need for a new fire hall to serve the resort and north Columbia Falls, and a more pressing reason to bring the eastern-border service road up to city standards.
The board unanimously recommended the proposal, adding requirements to sprinkle the buildings, add an elevator in each building, remove green space from open-space calculations, install dark-sky lighting and waive the right to protest city impact fees for future community improvements.
. Barry Conger, chairman of the Committee on Commercial Development Design, presented proposed design guidelines and standards to regulate buildings more than 10,000 square feet.
The committee, made up of planning board, city council and public members, have been researching other cities' protocols and combining them with a vision for Columbia Falls.
A letter from Robert Isackson of Columbia Falls Land Associates, who last year was defeated in his latest bid for a mixed-use development at the corner of U.S. 2 and Montana 40, asked for specific changes to the guidelines and standards. Civil engineer Erik Garberg with APEC (an offshoot of Schwarz Engineering), presented Isackson's concerns, including a request for one master conditional use permit to cover the dozens of businesses envisioned there.
Ken Kalvig, Isackson's local attorney, cautioned against separating guidelines from standards. A seamless, concise document could clarify the city's intent if future legal challenges arise.
In the end, the board voted to seek advice from the city attorney on a master conditional use permit process, the legality of a direct committee meeting with Isackson, advisability of integrating guidelines and standards, and considering Isackson's letter when drafting standards.
Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com