Builder pitches project

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 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 would 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.

Planning Board members worried about how Kidsports would react to neighborhood children spilling over into its fields for unsupervised playing. And they worried about children from Bloomstone's west side being a significant walk from Kidsports without any closer neighborhood parks to play in.

Board members also questioned how the boundary between Kidsports and Bloomstone would be set up. Should backyards or front yards face the complex, should houses even be on the east side, and how should fencing and the steep slope be addressed?

Bloomstone's hilly nature also might present problems, board members said.

The Bloomstone proposal involves property that formerly was state land. The land was auctioned for $6.4 million in June 2006 to a Las Vegas developer, Southwest Homes Inc.

Southwest Homes originally planned to build 813 housing units - 411 houses, 276 apartment units and 126 condominium units - on the land west of the Kidsports soccer fields.

Southwest Homes later put its housing project on hold.

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