Council talks growth policy
The Daily Inter Lake
A public hearing is set tonight on whether Kalispell should change its growth policy to allow commercial, industrial and suburban-residential uses for 550 acres just south of town.
The Kalispell City Council is holding the hearing in anticipation of an early 2009 request by the Siderius Family Limited Partnership to annex those 550 acres.
The family wants to build a combination of 535 homes and a neighborhood-hub business section.
In a related matter, the council also will vote tonight on whether to annex 81 acres owned by the families of Davar, Vicky and Todd Gardner, with land zoned for business and light industrial use.
The Gardners' land is along the east side of U.S. 93, just across the road from the Siderius' 550 acres.
Also, the council is scheduled at 7 p.m. to:
. Vote on whether to give preliminary approval to a planned-unit-development agreement with Gateway Properties Inc. for the Valley Ranch subdivision.
A planned-unit development is a type of contract in which the city relaxes some zoning requirements in return for the developer's promises to install mitigation measures.
Valley Ranch's 81 acres are bounded by unincorporated Ponderosa Estates to the north, U.S. 93 to the west and Glacier Town Center to the south.
The city annexed Valley Ranch in July 2007. But people and the city government questioned the project's density and traffic matters at that time. Then Gateway returned last summer with a revised request for a planned-unit development for the site.
The revisions include putting a 160-unit apartment or condominium complex near the site's center - a measure not in the 2007 proposal.
Also, a 104-unit assisted- and independent-living complex for the elderly would be somewhat near the site's center. The 2007 proposal called for a 100-unit complex next to U.S. 93.
Thirty-three townhouses are proposed, which were not in the 2007 proposal. And 85 single-family houses would be built, instead of the 222 proposed in 2007. Plus, the minimum lot size in the R-2 residential-zoned areas would be reduced from 9,600 square feet to 8,146 square feet.
Gateway hopes to build the site during the next six or seven years.
However, questions have arisen about the city's Grandview lift station's capacity to deal with Valley Ranch sewage. That helps bring into play the likelihood that developers in north Kalispell might have to build a new north-south major sewer line along western Kalispell's emerging projects in the north.
. Vote on whether to grant a one-year exception on Spring Prairie's third phase's preliminary plat.
Spring Prairie is the significantly built-up commercial area - anchored by Lowe's and owned by Goldberg Properties Inc. - that is west of U.S. 93 and south of West Reserve Drive.
Legally in Kalispell, developers have two years after getting a preliminary plat approved until they must submit a final plat, which is essentially a project's final overall plans.
The deadline for Goldberg Properties to submit a final plat for Spring Prairies' third and northernmost phase is Nov. 30. The company wants that extended to Nov. 30, 2009.
. Vote on whether to give preliminary approval to allowed owners of almost 19 acres - conditionally annexed almost two years ago - to withdraw from the city because the development plans fell through.
The Bay Ridge Estates - which was to develop the land at the north end of Meadows Drive - has dissolved. The land's January 2007 annexation was conditional on putting in a temporary water tank for the fire department until water lines and hydrants are installed.
No hydrants, water lines or temporary water tanks have been installed, which leaves the city the option of nullifying the annexation.
. Vote on whether to support the state's plan to upgrade the U.S. 93 traffic signals at Conway Drive, Sunny View Lane and Northridge Drive to improve left turns.