Kalispell gears for southern growth

Some 550 acres in and near southern Kalispell now are earmarked for commercial, industrial and suburban-residential uses.

The Kalispell City Council voted 9-0 Monday to change its growth policy to those uses for 468 acres just south of town and 82 acres annexed last month.

The change is in anticipation of an early 2009 request by the Siderius Family Limited Partnership for annexation of 207 acres. The family proposes to build 535 homes and a neighborhood-hub business district.

Siderius Commons expects to set up a community land trust on part of the site to decrease the cost of housing. In a community land trust, a nonprofit organization sells homes but keeps ownership of the land.

In November, the council annexed nine tracts totaling almost 82 acres owned by Gardner Investments along U.S. 93 South between Lower Valley Road and Snowline Lane.

No definitive plans have been mapped out on what will be built on the land.

The Siderius and Gardner sites would extend Kalispell to within a mile of Old School Station, a 55-acre island of incorporated land surrounded by rural Flathead County.

Also on Monday, the council voted 9-0 to give final approval to zone the Gardner land for B-5 business use.

In a separate land-use matter, the council unanimously gave final approval to a planned-unit-development agreement with Gateway Properties Inc. for the 81-acre Valley Ranch subdivision in northern Kalispell.

This agreement calls for Valley Ranch to build a 160-unit apartment or condominium complex near the site's center, along with a nearby 104-unit assisted- and independent-living complex.

The project also calls for 33 townhouses and 85 single-family houses.

Valley Ranch is south of Ponderosa Estates, east of U.S. 93 and north of Glacier Town Center property.