Panhandling law up for final vote tonight

An ordinance to regulate panhandlers in the name of public safety comes up for a second and final reading at tonight’s Kalispell City Council meeting.

The ordinance saw several changes and some sections gutted during a City Council meeting two weeks ago, but cleared its first reading with 6-1 support. 

The ordinance received limited opposition off the council. Local attorney Jim Cossitt called the measure “ridiculous and offensive” and said it targets people “at the bottom of the ladder.”

As amended, the ordinance makes it a misdemeanor crime for panhandlers to actively solicit people within 20 feet of any street intersection or highway intersection, any bus stop or on private property without the owner’s permission. 

It also bans panhandlers from coming within three feet of people who do not want to make a donation, from blocking the path of people on sidewalks or streets, from following people and from using profane, abusive or threatening language.

Council members removed a section that would have made it a misdemeanor crime for panhandlers to make false or misleading statements about their situations or their needs.

In other business tonight, a planned unit development overlay for two commercial lots owned by Gardner Investments along U.S. 93 in south Kalispell — one the proposed site for a Fred’s Appliance Store — comes up for a second and final reading tonight.

City Council members also will be asked to set an Aug. 5 public hearing for passage of the 2013-14 budget and five years of property tax increases for light maintenance, street maintenance and urban forestry special assessments, as well as increases in the rates that Kalispell charges its commercial solid waste customers for multiple weekly garbage pickups.

Tonight’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.