Planning department backs casino rule change
Brannigan’s Pub is asking for a permit to open an upstairs dining area with separate casino and card table rooms as well as a loosening of Kalispell zoning regulations that limit the size of accessory-use casinos.
“We don’t know if it will get accepted, rejected or what, but we’re going to ask,” said Dewey Swank, a partner in the project.
Kalispell planning staffers recommend that both of the pub’s requests be approved. The requests go before the Kalispell Planning Board for consideration and a formal recommendation on Tuesday and must then clear the Kalispell City Council.
Brannigan’s Pub opened last November in the renovated Loading Dock building across from Depot Park. The business is asking for a conditional use permit needed to open an accessory-use casino within 300 feet of a park, school, church, residential zone or another casino.
Kalispell’s zoning ordinance limits the size of such casinos to 10 percent of the business’s total floor space. That might work for businesses with larger buildings, but it does not work for a smaller business such as Brannigan’s, Swank said.
Because of that, the pub is also asking for a zoning text amendment that would loosen the regulation to 20 percent of the total floor space for businesses that have 6,000 square feet or less.
In a report for the Kalispell Planning Board, planning staffers said they support the change.
The 10 percent limit appears to work for larger businesses, but smaller ones, “especially those trying to redevelop existing space downtown, may not be able to generate enough casino area to properly function,” the report states.
Planners noted that a typical gaming machine measured 17 inches wide when the regulation was written and now measures 28 inches or wider, meaning more space is needed to allow the same level of function.
Brannigan’s proposal is trying to make the existing rules more equitable for smaller businesses and the “additional flexibility would open up the ability to redevelop smaller existing spaces into restaurants and bars with minor accessory gaming areas,” the staff report states.
IN OTHER BUSINESS on Tuesday, the Planning Board will hold an informal work session on site plans for a new Volkswagen dealership that DePratu Ford and Volkswagen plans to build at the corner of U.S. 93 and Lower Valley Road.
The site plans for the proposed Glacier Volkswagen dealership must go before the board for a formal public hearing in March and then be approved by the Kalispell City Council before the car dealership can be built.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Kalispell City Hall, 201 First Ave. E. It is open to the public.
Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.