Developer plans 765-home project west of Kidsports

A developer wants to build a 765-home project west of Kalispell's Kidsports complex.

The Skyline firm ran its preliminary plans past the Kalispell Planning Board on Tuesday to get feedback before it formally submits a revised proposal.

The project dubbed Bloomstone would cover 85 acres north of four Mile Drive, uphill and west of Kidsports, and east of the future U.S. 93 Bypass.

Right now, the project calls for 185 houses, 208 condominiums and 372 apartments.

That translates to nine housing units per acre.

"At first blush, that's really dense," planning board chairman Bryan Schutt said.

Board member Butch Clark said: "That's packin' 'em in there like sardines."

Bloomstone would be more dense than southwestern Kalispell's Willow Creek project, which originally sought to put 711 homes on 140 acres, but later shrank to 580 homes because of concerns about extreme housing density.

However, Kalispell planning Director Tom Jentz said the Bloomstone site has long been intended to be a high-density neighborhood.

Bloomstone would be isolated from other neighborhoods ?surrounded on three sides by the future bypass, empty land and Kidsports.

The homes' potential price tags range from $145,000 to $350,000.

Skyline's initial plans call for extending Four Mile Drive west to connect with either the bypass or Stillwater Road.

The new Treeline Road is expected to be extended southwest to cross Reserve Loop and connect with the north side of Bloomstone. A north-south arterial street through Bloomstone would connect Four Mile Drive with the extended Treeline Road.

The apartment and condominium buildings would be located on the northwest, west and south sides of Bloomstone. The houses would occupy the site's center plus its west and northeast sides.

Bloomstone's targeted clientele includes families who want to live next to Kidsports, Skyline representative Jim Davis said.

However, Bloomstone has little open land for recreation, depending instead on its proximity to Kidsports, as well as to open state-owned land to the north.

For more on this story, see Thursday's Inter Lake.