Group-home permit decision postponed a month

Plans for a youth group home across from the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell are on hold for another month.

The Kalispell City Planning Board on Tuesday voted to table a conditional use permit request from Lost Horizon Ranch for a transitional living program for 16- through 19-year-olds in an existing duplex at 530/528 Third St. E.

No more than eight boys and girls would be allowed there at any one time.

If approved, it would be the third group home the corporation runs in the same two-block residential neighborhood.

Lost Horizon Ranch also owns and operates the Montana Academy, a therapeutic boarding school and high school on a 400-acre ranch in Lost Prairie near Marion.

When students leave there, Montana Academy transitions them into the group homes as a gradual step down from the structure of the academy. It gives them a chance to practice their new skills in a more open, yet controlled environment.

Some neighbors at the Planning Board's public hearing Tuesday night questioned what a third group home would do to the residential character of their neighborhood, while others questioned the legality.

"They're already operating two facilities in the neighborhood and now they want a third, so when does it stop?" Kalispell Senior Planner Sean Conrad said in recounting neighbor concerns. "There seems to be a lot going on in this neighborhood."

Letters to the planning office claimed that a third group home would detract from the single-family residential nature of the neighborhood. Family homes lend stability to the area but teens who transition through there in a matter of months, some neighbors said, would develop no connections to neighbors. They were worried about the integrity of the neighborhood.

Cramped parking space also was a concern.

Conrad said he wasn't aware of any problems in the past that may be connected with the two existing homes.

Other neighbors have written to the city to say the teens in the homes are quiet and the facilities have been good neighbors.

He added that the group homes are operated and cared for just like other homes in the area.

Regarding questions about the legality of a third group home there, Conrad said at least two or three neighbors claimed the state license for Lost Horizon Ranch does not allow the extra home in the same area.

He received a letter to that effect during the day Tuesday but wasn't able to connect with City Attorney Charles Harball for an opinion before the meeting that night.

Conrad will research the legality and other issues before reporting back to the Planning Board at its next meeting on July 14.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com