Growth, pot shops on Kalispell agenda

Kalispell Planning Board and City Council members will have their first shared work session tonight to highlight what needs to be included in a future policy on medical marijuana, discuss how the city should approach annexations and give the final run-through on a proposed zoning ordinance update.

First on the agenda is annexation. City Planning Director Tom Jentz will present suggestions from the planning board and city planning staff on how to set policy for future annexations of land into Kalispell, then let the council and board exchange ideas.

The discussion is prompted by a concern that outlying developments are requesting annexation and receiving the city’s approval without a solid rationale on whether the cost of providing sewer, water, police, fire and other city services is in line with the city’s overall growth goals.

Tonight the council and board likely will look at the most reasonable directions for the city to grow over the coming decades, and how and when to provide services in those areas.

The medical marijuana discussion is prompted by a Feb. 16 council vote for a 90-day moratorium on businesses that grow and sell it inside city limits. With that vote, the council sent the issue back to the planning board with a request to begin crafting a policy.

That work got under way at the planning board’s Feb. 24 meeting. Board members suggested locating such businesses in the area of the hospital’s medical complex or other compatible areas off the main thoroughfares, generally keeping them out of most residential areas.

Jentz outlined several possible approaches for Kalispell, from banning such businesses based on the federal law against marijuana, to various zoning options and conditional-use permits, to admitting them as a home occupation with limits on patient numbers.

The zoning ordinance update has gone through nearly a year of fine-tuning and a January public hearing without raising any concerns from the public. The changes — eliminating ambiguities, making zoning code more readable, grouping similar zones, streamlining property development standards, updating definitions, including visuals, reducing the number of required parking spaces downtown and other measures — are designed to reflect the city as it looks today.

The work session starts at 7 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers.