Huge apartment complex proposed in Kalispell

A consulting firm is asking the city of Kalispell to annex a 15-acre parcel of property and allow the construction of a 324-unit apartment complex on the property.

The site is located at the 500 block on the north side of Two Mile Drive and immediately west of Glacier Street, Yellowstone Street and Teton Street, according to the planning staff report.

The Kalispell Planning Office has recommended approval of the annexation and conditional-use permit for the multifamily residential housing that would be named Crossings at Spring Creek.

The Kalispell Planning Board will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, in the Kalispell City Council chambers. The board will make a recommendation to the City Council, which will make a final decision on the proposal.

Whipple Consulting Engineers, Inc., on behalf of property owner Begg Trust, is asking the city to convert the land to RA-2 zoning, which is for residential apartments and office use. The land is currently zoned county RA-1, or suburban residential use. The property is almost completely surrounded by other RA-1 zoned properties.

The property is currently undeveloped. The proposed apartment complex would be constructed in three phases, the first two consisting of some combination of five buildings with 24 units each, and the third phase would bring an additional four buildings containing 84 units total and a clubhouse.

Estimates included in the staff report say annexing the property to the city would generate an additional $3,333 in taxes and $2,288 in assessments. With the apartment buildings on the property as proposed, it could generate as much as $108,477 in taxes and $10,632 in assessments.

The staff report also notes that any development in vacant land will lead to an increase in traffic, and a project of this size could require a traffic study to be completed to fully understand the girth of the problem. It also says the housing density is acceptable based on the city’s current growth policy. The developer included plans for over 600 parking spaces, well over the required 486 for a development of that size.

The southern third of the property sits on a 100-year flood plain, which would require the developer to get a permit from the Federal Emergency Management Agency if they stand by the current flood-plain maps. Water and sewer amenities would both be attached to the city’s systems, and most likely solid-waste removal would as well, the report states.

The report states that the impact on property values in the surrounding neighborhood could be mixed. Some of the amenities included in the project could have a neutral or positive impact, while a significant amount of traffic could have a negative impact. A letter sent by the developer predicted the apartments would generate 2,155 average daily trips.

The entire staff report can be found on the planning department website at http://kalispell.com/planning/, under the agendas, minutes and staff reports tab.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.