36-unit apartment complex planned in C-Falls

More apartments could soon be coming to Columbia Falls and even more subdivisions are likely in the pipeline as the summer of 2021 promises to be a busy construction season.

Developer Toby Gilchrist will go before the Columbia Falls Planning Board Tuesday, Feb. 9, with a plan for a 36-unit apartment complex on Meadow Lake Boulevard. The 2.5-acre lot is currently vacant and is roughly across the road from the green-box garbage collection site.

The apartments would be two story and require a conditional-use permit and a zone change. The current zoning is CR-5, which is a two-family designation.

Gilchrist is requesting a change to CRA-1, which is multifamily.

Demand for housing has surged in Columbia Falls since the coronavirus pandemic, as more people move to Montana and interest rates remain low.

The request by Gilchrist is likely just the beginning. City Manager Susan Nicosia told the council last week that developers have had pre-planning meetings for other housing projects in the city’s planning jurisdiction.

Last year the city approved a subdivision just east of town, but denied a plan for rental cabins.

Developer Mick Ruis also is working on a housing and commercial project in the downtown corridor. The site has been leveled and work on that will begin in the spring.

The Planning Board will consider two other conditional-use permit requests. One is for a house and accessory dwelling at 1550 14th St. E.

The second conditional-use permit is to convert half a house at 28 Sixth St. E. into an accessory dwelling. Accessory dwellings are popular and people rent them out in the summer to visiting tourists, or rent them year-round for additional income.

The planning board meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (tonight) in City Hall. The council will take up the applications at its March 1 meeting at 7 p.m.