Petition language finalized on airport question

The clock is now ticking.

Petition language has been finalized for a possible voter referendum that would challenge the Kalispell City Council’s recent decision to upgrade the city airport to B-II design standards through the federal Airport Improvement Program.

The petition language was approved Wednesday.

That means supporters of the effort today can start trying to gather signatures from 1,759 registered Kalispell voters — 15 percent of the city electorate — needed to halt any more council action on the airport upgrade and put the referendum on the ballot in November 2013.

“This issue encompasses all of Kalispell now, because it is putting forward an instrument to allow people to vote on the property they own. The voters, city residents, own the airport,” said Chad Graham.

Graham, chairman of the Kalispell Planning Board and a losing candidate for the Kalispell City Council last fall, has spearheaded the effort to get petition language crafted for the possible referendum.

“We’ve cleared all these hurdles. The next is gathering the signatures. I don’t see that being a huge problem,” he said.

If the signature drive proves successful, the referendum simply would ask Kalispell voters to either affirm or overturn the Kalispell City Council’s most recent airport decision.

Council members narrowly passed Resolution 5572 by a 5-4 vote on July 16 to accept the findings of an airport master plan update by Stelling Engineers and move forward with a multiyear project to upgrade the city’s general aviation airport to B-II design standards, the planning study’s recommended course of action.

According to County Elections Supervisor Monica Eisenzimer, referendum supporters have 60 days from that date — until 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14 — to gather 1,759 signatures from registered Kalispell voters and stop any more council action on the resolution until it is approved by the city electorate.

They also have 90 days from when the petition language was finalized — until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, to gather the same number of signatures and get the referendum on next year’s election ballot.

Graham expects a drive to collect signatures to start immediately.

“We’ll be canvassing from door to door. There may be some events we’ll be showing up at and some businesses have shown interest in having the petition displayed,” he said.

Graham also has created an email address, signthepetition@mail.com, for people who want more information about the petition and signature drive.

“There will be several opportunities and places for people to find us, and if they don’t find us then we’ll find them when we go door to door,” Graham said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.