Petition targets airport decision

Supporters of a referendum to challenge Kalispell City Council’s recent decision to upgrade the city airport with federal Airport Improvement Program money have been out with petitions trying to gather signatures.

And after just one weekend they already have about one-third of the 1,759 registered Kalispell voter signatures needed to put the referendum on the ballot in November 2013.

That was the word Monday from Chad Graham, who has been spearheading the referendum drive.

Graham said he and others went knocking on doors last weekend when “most households were empty” with people out camping or at the lake.

“Of those people who were home, 90 percent were enthusiastic about signing,” Graham told Kalispell City Council members during their public comment period Monday night.

Petition language for the possible airport referendum was finalized Wednesday, Aug. 1, by the city and county attorneys and county election department.

That gives referendum supporters until Friday, Sept. 14, to turn in 1,759 signatures to stop any more council action on its decision until it can be approved by the city electorate.

They also have until Oct. 30 to gather the same number of signatures and get the referendum on next year’s ballot.

Graham said he and others plan to collect signatures for as long as they can. He encouraged people to contact him via email at signthepetition@mail.com.

“I want people who want to sign this petition to feel like they have a chance to do so. That kind of puts them on the record and gets their voice on the referendum out there,” he said.

If the signature drive proves successful, the referendum would simply 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 airport to B-II design standards.

That was the planning study’s recommended course of action. The study explored five options for the airport including closing it, moving it and “doing nothing,” and recommended the B-II upgrade - similar to a master plan study done in 1999 - based on noise, safety and cost factors.

Graham, who opposes the B-II upgrade, said the council’s split 5-4 decision does not provide enough finality for the long-running question of what to do with the city’s general aviation airport.

He said the referendum “restores the right of voters to determine the fate of property they own.”

“The way the process went with council doesn’t give clear finality on this issue because they were so split,” Graham said. “People realize the only way to get that clear direction, that final direction, is from the voters.”

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