Kalispell council tables project permit over apartment design

The city of Kalispell is reflecting the cautiousness brought by south-side neighborhood residents in permitting a new 55-unit apartment complex that will alter the neighborhood’s character.

The Kalispell City Council on Tuesday decided to table the vote on a conditional-use permit requested by Lofts at Ashley, LLC in building an apartment complex between Airport Road and the Ashley Park subdivision. Several council members expressed concern regarding the apartment’s exterior design and wanted to provide an outline for the city’s architectural review committee.

Prior to reaching the council, Ashley Park residents intervened in the permitting process at the Kalispell Planning Board level, successfully lobbying the project down from an initial 96 units to its current 55-unit structure.

Current project designs call for a two-story 12-plex, two-story 14-plex, a three-story 20-plex and nine two-story attached units. On the western property border, developers have added a six-to-seven foot berm for a buffer between the apartments and the Ashley Park neighborhood.

Councilman Tim Kluesner said while the buffer does create a divider between the future apartment building and the 20-year-old neighborhood, he believed the complex addition would clash with the character of the existing single-family homes nearby.

“How do we deal with the look of it?” Kluesner asked the council and planning staff. “Because that does not blend with the neighborhood theme.”

Prior to passing the plans through the planning board, the neighborhood group compiled a list of compromises they want to see in the apartment plans, including certain building materials. The council had some qualms of its own with the materials, hoping the developer would use stone materials for some parts of the building, rather than repurposed wood.

Kluesner said if the building was a stark outlier from the neighborhood design, selling a home in the neighborhood could become more difficult and less profitable.

“This factors into selling your home,” he said.

City Planning Director Tom Jentz said the architectural review committee will be the group to determine the broad policy regarding the project’s design. This means the committee could say that the repurposed wood could not be used as a general or primary design material, but would stop short of determining all details in the design.

“They don’t want to design it for the architect,” Jentz said. “The issue is the used and aged appearance... It’s a delicate lock when you get to aesthetics.”

Jentz during the meeting said while the council does not possess the power to administer design standards, developing a direction for the architectural review committee would be helpful through the final permitting phases.

The council unanimously voted to table the conditional use permit vote until the next council meeting, allowing the council a chance to discuss the designs at the next council work session.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.