Decision on pre-release center likely
The Daily Inter Lake
The zoning and a conditional-use permit for a proposed 40-bed pre-release center in southern Kalispell goes to a City Council vote tonight.
The council is braced for plenty of feedback during the public comment segment toward the beginning of the 7 p.m. meeting.
In fact, the council tweaked its agenda so a staff report on the pre-release center precedes the pubic-comment portion of its meeting.
Butte-based Community, Counseling and Correctional Services is prepared to spend $3 million to renovate the 12,750-square-foot building that formerly housed Department of Health and Human Services offices. The Butte firm also would add a 4,750-square-foot outbuilding to the U.S. 93 South location.
It would operate the facility for the state as an alternative to direct release from prison while providing supervision as inmates readjust to society.
Flathead County has about 1,300 people in the state corrections system - the fourth highest of any county in Montana. Lake and Lincoln counties contribute another 650 offenders.
During the past seven years, more than 900 offenders from Flathead County have spent time in pre-release centers at Missoula, Bozeman, Butte, Billings, Helena and Great Falls.
The concept is for inmates approaching their release dates to be returned to their home areas, kept in a strictly supervised and structured environment, obtain jobs, and be counseled intensively on living outside of prison.
A Kalispell facility is supposed to house primarily Northwest Montana residents.
Mike Thatcher, chief executive officer of the Butte firm, said the facility would have a zero-tolerance policy toward any infractions by the center's residents.
The Montana Department of Corrections requires that pre-release centers be placed in areas with access to city sewer and water, and within van-driving distance to jobs. Law-enforcement and ambulance-response times also must be within a certain limit.
The facilities cannot be in residential areas or within 1,500 feet of a school.
At a workshop meeting March 30 - at which no votes were legally allowed -Ê Council Member Tim Kluesner leaned against the rezoning and conditional-use permit, while Mayor Pam Kennedy and Council Members Hank Olson, Jim Atkinson and Randy Kenyon appeared to lean toward approval.
Also tonight, the council is scheduled to vote on:
n Whether to Increase the bulk of the city's ambulance rates to make up a budget shortfall in the ambulance fund.
n Whether to grant a conditional-use permit to Calaway Brothers LLC for a 65-unit apartment complex between Meridian Road and U.S. 93 North. An unresolved issue is whether to limit the height of the two tallest buildings to 40 feet, or allow them to reach 50 feet with the addition of a ground-floor parking garage.
n Whether to grant a conditional-use permit to Premier Restaurants LLC to operate a casino at the site of Sawbuck Saloon.
Premier plans to tear down the saloon and replace it with an 8,700-square-foot Montana Club restaurant, bar and casino - emphasizing the family-style restaurant.
If the council approves the permit, the saloon's demolition likely will occur in May.
n Whether to grant a conditional-use permit for Mark Waatti to set up an assisted-living facility able to house eight elderly people on the east side of Fifth Avenue West between First Street West and Second Street West.
n Whether to approve a final plat in northwest Kalispell to hold a soon-to-be built consolidated Flathead County 911 dispatch center.
n Whether to set an April 20 public hearing for a proposed update of the Kalispell growth policy toward the west of town.