Town Center plan faces public hearing

Wolford firm seeks 485-acre annexation

The Daily Inter Lake

A public hearing on the Glacier Town Center project is at 7 p.m. today at the Earl Bennett Building in Kalispell.

The Kalispell Planning Board is conducting the hearing, with the possibility of making recommendations afterward to the City Council.

Wolford Development Montana is seeking to annex 485.5 acres into northern Kalispell. The land is north of West Reserve Drive and east of U.S. 93.

It has been envisioned as a major shopping complex for the Flathead.

Wolford Development is seeking zoning and a planned unit development to set aside 322.5 acres for commercial use and 163 acres for mixed residential and commercial use.

A planned unit development is a contract between a developer and the city in which the city relaxes some zoning restrictions in return for the developer's promise to compensate for those concessions with other measures.

Wolford Development also is seeking approval for preliminary plans for the projects' first construction phase - almost 192 acres that would be the site's commercial centerpiece. The first phase has 36 lots plus a common area.

The proposed first phase includes a 577,000-square-foot "lifestyle center" on 58 acres that is essentially an outdoor shopping center with an mountain-oriented architectural theme.

The center would be anchored by three store buildings of roughly 100,000 square feet each. For comparison, the Costco building in northern Kalispell is about 136,000 square feet.