Council approves pre-release zoning

The Kalispell City Council voted Monday night to allow a 40-bed prison pre-release center for men in the old Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services building at 2282 U.S. 93 South.

Despite continued opposition from adjacent business owners, an ordinance rezoning the 1.78-acre site from general business to public use passed its final reading by a vote of 6-3.

"These people are coming here anyway. They come back to family and friends," council member Hank Olson said. "They are low-level offenders who, with some help, hopefully, can become good citizens again."

Two motions to delay the vote, one until a state study on the site is completed and one until two other potential locations are proposed, were defeated.

"I don't have any other choices … and I can't in good conscience accept this site because it's the only one proposed to me," said council member Tim Kluesner, who supports the concept of a pre-release center in Kalispell but not the proposed location. "I think the community deserves to come up to speed with the rest of us … and that's going to take a little more time."

The bid accepted by the Montana Department of Corrections to run the facility included only one proposed site.

However, sites proposed in other bids rejected by the department all are in south Kalispell near U.S. 93 and within about a mile of each other. Several bidders considered the Department of Public Health and Human Services building.

Kluesner was joined in his opposition to the rezoning by council members Wayne Saverud and Robert Hafferman.

"My objection is to the process used to essentially subvert our zoning regulations," Hafferman said. "We subverted the rules in order to satisfy a government entity. I don't think this is right."

Several south Kalispell business and land owners, who have long voiced opposition to the proposed location, spoke against the site in the public comment portion of the council meeting.

"We should be heard. I would ask that you do hear us," said Vaughn Penrod, who has argued that a pre-release center doesn't fit with the city's stated vision for development in south Kalispell.

Penrod and his brother Kirk own Penco Power Products, immediately south of the proposed site.

The representative of a nearby landowner voiced concerns about decreased property values and the owner of commercial property on nearby Kelly Road spoke about competition for scarce jobs.

"Our own law-abiding citizens should not have to compete with convicted felons for jobs," said Mickey Lapp, who has said she has already had one potential client decline to rent because of fear that work trucks would be vandalized.

Kalispell attorney Rich DeJana, who has been retained by the Penrods, said Monday the siting process was conducted in violation of state rules - which call for a local working committee, not the company bidding to run the facility - to select the proposed site.

DeJana, who pointed out that Helena officials considered six sites before settling on a location for their pre-release center, said he expects to send a letter addressing the problem to the Department of Corrections and does not know if litigation will follow.

"What I want you to hear me say is, don't punish my clients or the rest of the neighborhood with the perceptions this facility creates," DeJana told the council.

For more on this story, read Wednesday's Daily Inter Lake.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com