Glacier Town Center: Talking traffic on Tuesday

Everyone is getting ready to rumble over two proposed traffic lights.

Glacier Town Center will be the cornerstone of Kalispell's rapidly growing north side.

It is 485 acres, with 632 proposed homes and maybe a grocery store in a few years.

The centerpiece will be a 577,000-square-foot outdoors shopping complex, anchored by three stores of roughly 100,000 square feet each.

Most of the project has generated little controversy in recent months.

What has generated lots of public heartache is traffic flow.

The northern end of the future U.S. Bypass eventually will show up next to Glacier Town Center. The intersection of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive is one of the busiest in the Flathead. At least 4,000 new homes -Êwith their occupants' cars and trucks -Êare expected to be built during the next 20 years in north Kalispell.

U.S. 93 is one of Northwest Montana's major arterial highways - and the main road between Kalispell and Whitefish.

All that has brought out dueling philosophies on traffic planning.

And that conflict focuses on two traffic lights.

Three new streets will connect Glacier Town Center with U.S. 93 -Êno one is arguing about that.

But should two of those new T-shaped intersections have traffic lights? Or should they be served by a more-expensive overpass-and-ramp type of intersection?

The Kalispell City Council is scheduled to begin discussing annexation, zoning and the preliminary plans of Glacier Town Center at 7 p.m. Tuesday. And it could vote on those matters Tuesday, if council members are comfortable with the information.

The city Planning Board has chewed over the issues. And on Jan. 7 the council held a big public hearing on the matter.

Although the Jan. 7 formal public hearing was closed, the council also holds an open-to-any-subject public hearing at the beginning of each meeting -Êgiving anyone a chance for last-minute lobbying on Glacier Town Center.

Glacier Town Center's developer, Wolford Development Montana, plans to build the mall segment, as well as arterial streets to serve that area.

Those new streets include extending Rose Crossing west from Whitefish Stage Road to U.S. 93. And Wolford Development plans to build an extra two streets eastward from U.S. 93 -Êsouth of the proposed Rose Crossing intersection -Êinto the mall area.

The builder wants to put traffic lights at the Rose Crossing and southernmost street's intersections. It wants to design the center intersection to allow turns in any direction except left onto U.S. 93.

Wolford Development contends its traffic studies show that this is the safest way to control traffic with minimal impact on flows between Kalispell and Whitefish.

The city planning staff and the grassroots Citizens For A Better Flathead want no traffic lights on U.S. 93 north of West Reserve Drive -Êcontending that the city's long-term growth plans call for a fast highway with the fewest possible traffic lights between West Reserve Drive and Whitefish.

The Planning Board also leaned in that direction - but could not come up with a specific recommendation. The board has recommended that only northbound traffic can enter and leave the center access road.

The Montana Department of Transportation has not conducted a traffic study on this matter. But it reviewed Wolford Development's traffic study and found nothing wrong with it.

In recent days, three parties made extra pushes for their positions. These were:

. A Jan. 15 letter from Wolford Development to the City Council that said the company has accumulated "tens of millions of dollars in additional costs" when the developer changed Glacier Town Center from an enclosed mall to an outdoor complex to reflect some community demands.

However, according to the letter, Wolford Development is making $22 million in "contributions and donations" to the city, which includes the streets and parks. The letter was unclear about whether mall construction was included in that figure. The Kalispell government traditionally has required developers to pay street costs and provide parks within their projects.

Also according to the letter, Wolford Development will pay to extend Rose Crossing, widen Whitefish Stage Road and create a major street with the southernmost U.S. 93-Glacier Town Center access road, which will be called Many Glacier Road.

The developer is providing 72 acres of parks instead of the legally required 48 acres, according to the letter. And it is donating 5 acres for a community center.

According to the letter, Wolford Development cannot afford to pay for any extra requirements - such as potential overpass-ramp intersections -Êwithout renegotiating other items to which it had agreed.

. Citizens For a Better Flathead is sponsoring a presentation on Glacier Town Center traffic at 7 p.m. today at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell.

The speaker will be Dan Burden, a Florida-based expert on traffic flows and designing intersections.

. A Jan. 4 letter from the Montana Department of Transportation to state Rep. Jon Sonju, R-Kalispell, that said the state has the final say on traffic lights and accesses for a "controlled access highway."

A pair of loose ends exist about Glacier Town Center -Êmuch smaller than the traffic-light dispute.

One is how many access roads should enter Glacier Town Center from a lengthened Rose Crossing along its northern border?

The Planning Board wants six access roads. Wolford Development wants four. No one from the public spoke about this during the Jan. 7 hearing.

. The North 93 Neighbors -Êwhich fought Wolford Development for years and then reached a compromise with the corporation - has focused on an agreement in which Wolford will donate 5 acres in the middle of Glacier Town Center for a community facility.

The roads leading to that site are scheduled to be built during Glacier Town Center's third phase, which is scheduled to begin in about 2014. North 93 Neighbors has contended that those access roads should be built during the first construction phase, likely to end in 2010.