Council OKs boat company's expansion plan
After considerable debate Monday night, the Kalispell City Council approved a planned-unit development for a boat and trailer sales and repair facility on U.S. 93 South.
Somers Bay Trading Co., doing business as Captain’s Marine, wants to develop the facility on 9.7 acres at 3215 U.S. 93 S. on the east side of the highway. The project also would include boat-storage buildings.
The Kalispell Planning Board had recommended several conditions be added to the plan before work could start.
The revised plan was presented on Monday night for council’s approval, but several new conditions added by the Planning Board sparked debate.
The first condition stated that “an area 60 feet wide extending south from the north-south access easement (United Drive) to the southern property boundary shall be kept free of any structural development until such time that future development warrants construction of a roadway in this location.”
When the original planned unit development for the property was approved in 2008, a placeholder was added to the agreement stating that space should be left for a road through the middle of the property. When Captain’s Marine purchased the land and the planned unit development, it had to continue to adhere to that exception.
“The road needs to be able to extend through, but not right now,” said Tom Jentz, the city’s Planning and Building director. “This is an issue of concern.”
The idea behind the road is that if U.S. 93 in front of the property becomes busy with traffic and businesses, there should be an alternate route to get to those businesses.
The owners of Captain’s Marine found fault with this during previous meetings, according to Jentz, since they would be forced to pave and maintain a road for which they have no use.
Due to city ordinances, all potential road and parking areas must be paved, which would mean that as it develops the land, Captain’s Marine would be required to pave the road through the property, as well as refrain from building within 20 feet of the roadway.
To make this cost less burdensome, another condition in the planned unit development agreement allowed Captain’s Marine to pave using “recycled asphalt for parking and boat storage and on the non-circulation areas” along the road. Recycled asphalt is not normally allowed for these types of projects.
However, some members of the City Council pointed out that allowing an exception for one business would open up a can of worms in the future.
“We should never make variances for one person because it will come back to bite us,” council member Phil Guiffrida said. “Do not allow this variance tonight. Do not.”
The council voted to removed the recycled asphalt condition from the contract and then approved the planned unit development on a 6-3 vote.
Before the meeting adjourned, Mayor Mark Johnson spoke to the council about the road and asphalt vote. Johnson said he voted against the planned unit development because it felt unfair to push the responsibility of the road onto the landowner.
In the future, he said, he would like things such as the road placeholder to be more upfront in the title information for property so a buyer is not caught off guard.
“We need to be very predictable and have the business community know what’s expected when they buy property and they come to us,” he told the council. “We were put in a tough position because of that placeholder.”
Reporter Brianna Loper may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at bloper@dailyinterlake.com.