Council to hold first public hearing on downtown plan

The Kalispell City Council is holding its first public hearing on a list of proposed updates to the downtown plan at its next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 6 in City Hall.

The downtown plan seeks to return the heart of historic Kalispell back to the busy, pedestrian-friendly place it was in the 1940s and ’50s. It is the culmination of several years of work, beginning in 2014 with the gathering of public feedback.

Among other things, the plan

recommends widening sidewalks by 6 feet to create opportunities for outdoor dining, landscaping and room for benches and bike racks.

The plan holds suggestions on how to manage and encourage efficient of use of parking in the downtown area, particularly near KM Building and library area and the Western Outdoor and Kalispell Grand Hotel area. It suggests that a parking structure with retail space on the first floor would be an effective long-term solution while also allowing for new commercial spaces to be built in existing parking areas.

The proposed plan also suggests cutting the lanes of traffic on Main Street from four lanes to two with an additional left-hand turn lane in some areas. The extra space could allow for a landscaped median, the plan suggests.

This portion of the plan in particular has sparked controversy with county officials, as commissioners in August submitted a letter to the City Council stating their opposition.

“We encourage Kalispell officials to abandon any plans that have the potential to degrade the connectivity, efficiency and safety of highways, streets and roads within Flathead County,” the commissioners wrote to the city. “We will continue to urge MDOT (Montana Department of Transportation) to stay the course for Highway 93 through the Kalispell area and concur with the traffic statistics that MDOT has provided.”

City officials maintain the plans is what city residents want, making note of the extensive community surveying performed while the plan was drafted.

The stretch of highway being discussed is part of a major undertaking to expand the highway to four lanes between Somers and Whitefish that has been ongoing since 1994. The stretch from Seventh Street to 13th Street in Kalispell is the only section that has yet to be completed. There are no immediate plans to begin construction.

In 1994, the year an environmental impact study for the highway project was completed, the preferred route was a four-lane design through downtown Kalispell.

But much as changed since then, including the completion of the U.S. 93 bypass.

The four-lane alternative would include expanding the loop around the courthouse to four lanes. A detailed traffic analysis was done to evaluate the impacts of the choice.

Roughly 18,000 vehicles travel around the courthouse each day, the study found. If the four-lane alternative were chosen, the traffic count would increase substantially to about 31,000 vehicles per day.

The volume of traffic that would be funneled down Main Street is a big concern to Kalispell city officials who want to protect the retail integrity of the downtown corridor.

The downtown plan in its entirety can be found on the city website at www.kalispell.com.

In other business, city officials on Monday will consider the appointment of Emily Schroeder to the Tourism Business Improvement District Board of Directors and recognize recipients of the Lifesaver Award.