Willow Creek housing density reduced again

Willow Creek developers are back at the Kalispell planning office with yet another revamp of their proposed major housing subdivision on Foy’s Lake Road.

In December 2007 Wayne and Hubert Turner won annexation, suburban zoning, planned-unit development and preliminary plat approval for a 140-acre subdivision west of the U.S. 93 bypass route. Ashley Creek winds along the development’s northern border.

Its 531 lots were just three-quarters of the initial 711 lots they sought when starting the process in October 2006.

Now the Turners are presenting plans for 455 lots.

They propose plat amendments — they’re calling them “relaxations” — that result in 435 single-family houses and 20 townhouses. They would be developed in five phases between now and fall 2014.

If the review process goes as expected this month, the amendments should be on the Kalispell Planning Board’s March 9 agenda.

In a Jan. 4 letter to Planning Director Tom Jentz, Hubert Turner, president of the company named Trigon Inc., outlined the proposals:

n Reconfigure lots.

n Move access roads to the west so the eastern one is farther from the bypass roundabout.

n Modify interior roads and redirect traffic flow.

n Create more open space, particularly on the east, where a required sound barrier berm will take more land than anticipated.

n Adjust phasing so it’s built in five phases beginning this year and ending in 2014.

The reduced number of lots stands out among the changes. Although there are fewer lots to sell — density often is a trade-off in providing affordable housing — developers still tout Willow Creek’s affordable housing “with a type and design not before seen in Kalispell.”

Overall they call it a walkable “neo-traditional” neighborhood, with house styles and sizes typical of those built at the turn of the 20th century.

The Turners are proposing 435 single-family homes and 20 townhouses on lots ranging from 4,000 square feet up to nearly 17,700 square feet.

“These homes are intended to be affordable to young families and empty-nesters; the condominiums are geared toward singles, couples and smaller families,” they write in explaining design guidelines and the philosophy of Willow Creek.

Smaller lots will be the most affordable.

The reason for fewer lots boils down to a gently sloping earth berm.

A noise barrier between the subdivision and the bypass to the east was included in the initial approval, but plans were to build an earth berm with much steeper slopes than the 33 percent — or 3-to-1 slope — that city staff required. Developers had to add considerably to the open area on the east to make room for the berm. They accommodated that by changing the roads and lots on the east side.

An alley also was added to the back side of lots bordering the Ashley Creek buffer area to the northeast. It uses up land but helps define the boundary for public areas and provides a rear access to homes so garages won’t protrude in front.

The number of front-loaded homes also is reduced by reconfiguring lots near a park in the west side, making the park larger.

One condition of preliminary plat approval in 2007 was that Willow Creek’s eastern entry from Foy’s Lake Road be moved 300 feet to the west, leaving a required separation between that access road and the planned roundabout for the bypass.

Developers say the topography of the site makes that request impractical, so they propose moving it 900 feet west of the original location and west of Valley View Drive to the south. A similar access road is planned to the east.

Another road change wipes out the north-south arterial entering into the center of Willow Creek from Foy’s Lake Road.

Building it to Kalispell city standards would have meant excavating more than 1 million cubic yards of dirt and rock, developers said. And the major changes to topography would have diverted stormwater that naturally runs north toward Ashley Creek, instead sending it south to Foy’s Lake Road.

They abandoned the central road in favor of two arterials following the perimeter of the project. Narrower collector roads and alleys run through the development. The arterials join into a road that eventually will continue north to U.S. 2.

Developers also may be required to install a traffic light at the east access from Foy’s Lake Road and a left-turn deceleration lane on U.S. 2.

The new bypass is expected to take care of nearly all of the current and future traffic problems along Meridian Road, the subdivision’s traffic study found. That would mean Willow Creek probably wouldn’t have to install a series of traffic lights or other mitigation that had been expected in the initial plan.

City planner Sean Conrad is taking the proposed changes through the review process now, and expects to have a staff report ready for Planning Board members to consider at their March 9 meeting.

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