Board recommends against casino proposal
The Silverado Casino lost the first round Tuesday night in its bid to move into the former Quizno’s sandwich shop on West Idaho Street.
The Kalispell Planning Board recommended denial for the text amendment that would allow the casino at the new location.
Terry and Judy Anderson now operate the casino at the corner of Idaho and Main Street, in the west end of the former Barley’s Brewhouse and Grill that closed its doors this winter.
They told the Kalispell Planning Board Tuesday night that they went looking for a new location when they lost their lease.
They thought they had found the perfect location two blocks due west, in the vacated sandwich shop at 135 W. Idaho St. Then they hit a zoning-code snag that bans casinos within 300 feet of another casino, church, school, park or city residential zone.
“Nobody knew the Gold Bar Casino was closer than 300 feet until we were well along in the process,” Dawn Marquardt of Marquardt and Marquardt Surveying told the board.
The former Quizno’s location is in a business building owned by Parkwood Plaza and Northwest Montana Holdings. To make the casino proposal work, they subdivided the property by placing a boundary line through the middle of the building. It created a separate lot on the south end that is just over 300 feet from residential zoning to the north.
That freed up the south third of the building for the casino — until they discovered the Gold Bar property’s northeast corner is about 285 feet from the southwest corner at Parkwood Plaza’s building.
So they applied to the city for a zoning text amendment that would reduce the required distance to 150 feet when U.S. 2 (Idaho Street) or U.S. 93 separate the casinos.
They also asked for a conditional use permit that would allow the casino in that community business B-3 zone.
If the City Council agrees to deny the text amendment, that makes a moot point of the conditional use permit. But if the council approves the text amendment, the conditional use permit could move ahead. So on Tuesday night the Planning Board opened the issue but moved to table any discussion on the conditional use permit until its April 6 meeting.
At issue is what some on the board saw as micromanaging the zoning code to benefit one business proposal, without rethinking the underlying reasons for putting that 300-foot separation in place initially.
“We’ve got to stop any erosion on what we have set out,” said C.M. Clark, board member and owner of Kalispell Casino. He said he has no objection to the Silverado being in business, and suggested the owners need only find another location for the liquor license they still own. But, he added, “there’s no end to it. Once we start breaking this down,” zoning regulations become meaningless.
Neighbors Nick and Jane Kartheiser objected to proposal because of poor access for traffic at the site, people drinking alcohol becoming part of the mix, and the increased potential for theft and damage to their fence and garage.
Their house sits on commercially zoned property. Kalispell allows residential use in most zones.
Pointing out the fact that the building owners already “cut the building in half” to avoid zoning limitations, board member Rick Hull took issue with making special provisions for a business that would provide only a casino without pairing it up with more family-conducive uses such as a restaurant.
“The casinos are taking all the liquor licenses so we’re not getting Olive Gardens” or other popular restaurants, Hull said.
When the Hilton Garden Inn got permission for the Blue Canyon Casino on U.S. 93 South, less than 300 feet across the highway from Lions Park, the city enabled it by adopting Ordinance 1591. It waives the separation requirement if the casino is a minor incidental use occupying no more than 10 percent of the floor space, if signs advertising the casino are limited or prohibited, if the number and location of entrances are limited, and if landscaping is beefed up to provide a greater buffer.
The Montana Club to the north of there, in the former Sawbuck Saloon, also won approval for a casino although it is within 300 feet of a residential zone.
In the end, the board’s unanimous recommendation to deny the zone amendment was based on several factors — it’s not a minor incidental use, no restrictions on entries or signs were included, it’s a potential blight and eases the way for a character of business the city may not want to encourage.
Board Chairman Bryan Schutt suggested it may be appropriate to open a discussion on clustering casino businesses in certain areas of the city.
Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com