Dance studio gets support from board

The Kalispell Planning Board on Tuesday unanimously recommended approval of a conditional-use permit for a dance and yoga studio at 42 Bruyer Way between Edgerton School and Whitefish Stage Road.

Carol Brannan and Natalie Molter currently operate a ballet school in Columbia Falls.

Their new studio would primarily offer ballet instruction but also include jazz dancing and yoga.

Classes would be held between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. during the week with some morning classes on Saturdays. Instruction will be available for ages 4 through 98.

The Planning Board also began discussion of a proposed landscape ordinance.

The ordinance would apply to rights-of-way on public property and conditional-use permits on private commercial property.

The Parks and Recreation Department would administer the ordinance.

There are times when the city requires landscaping for a commercial project initially, and that landscaping needs to be maintained, Planning Director Tom Jentz said.

The city could issue a citation for noncompliance when trees and shrubs die and the property is not maintained, Jentz said.

Board members Richard Griffin and Chad Graham questioned the new regulation on the basis of private property rights.

City staffers will rewrite the proposed ordinance to clear up vagueness in the wording and bring it back for approval on Nov. 9, Jentz said.

Also on Nov. 9, the Planning Board will conduct a public hearing about an expansion of Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Jentz said the hospital plans to expand upward instead of outward initially, with construction slated to begin in January and end in February 2012.

The expansion is part of a proposed 30-year plan.

A three-level surgical services tower plus a basement would be built in Phase I, with additional levels built in later phases. The 80-foot tower would replace the current surgical services center, which is 30 years old.

When the surgical services tower is complete, the hospital plans to expand the current emergency department into the old surgical services space.  

The Planning Board will conduct a joint meeting with the Flathead County Planning Board at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26.

Jentz said they will discuss annexation, growth policies, the city’s northern edge, and other issues.