Kalispell transportation plan goes to city Planning Board
Traffic builds heading eastbound on West Reserve Drive as it approaches the traffic light at Whitefish Stage Road in Kalispell in this May 2, 2019, file photo. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A request from the city of Kalispell to amend its growth policy to include a new long-term plan focused on improving transportation in the area tops the Kalispell Planning Board's agenda for its July 13 meeting.
The city's current transportation plan hasn't been updated since 2008. Officials stressed the need for modernizing the document a few years ago when the city implemented its new growth policy plan, which is known formally as the "Kalispell Growth Policy Plan-it 2035."
The city, in tandem with the Montana Department of Transportation, set to work overhauling the outdated plan in September 2019.
The new plan, dubbed "Move 2040," is now nearing completion, and the Planning Board will take public comments during a hearing at its upcoming meeting. According to a draft version of the document, it will serve as a "long-range transportation plan that will address the present needs of the community and to plan and direct future growth."
Embedded in the 264-page document is a list of 90 recommended improvements from KLJ Engineering, the firm that prepared the plan.
Some are site-specific throughout the greater Kalispell area, while others would impact the entire transportation corridor, should they be implemented in the future. According to the draft, the study area is bound by West Valley Drive to the west, Birch Grove Road to the north, the Flathead River to the east and Auction Road to the south.
More ambitious projects include lane expansions. For example, the plan suggests Montana 35 could grow to five lanes from its intersection with U.S. 2 to the connection with Montana 206. Additional roundabouts east and west of the downtown area are also possibilities.
The plan's contents are strictly proposals, meaning there is no guarantee all of the suggested improvements will be put into action. In addition, the plan still needs to clear multiple hurdles before reaching final approval, including a series of meetings with the Kalispell Planning Board and the Kalispell City Council. If the plan is greenlighted, it will replace its 2008 predecessor.
THE PLANNING Board also will take public comment on a request from Meadows Edge LLC for a major preliminary plat approval for Phases 3 and 4 of Meadows Edge, a planned-unit development on the west side of Kalispell, north of Three Mile Drive and west of Farm to Market Road.
According to city documents, the subject property is located at 1120 Farm to Market Road in a residential zoning district with a public utility district overlay and contains a total of 125 dwelling units. Phase 3 contains 31 single-family lots and Phase 4 contains 21 single-family lots and 73 townhome lots. The phases are part of a larger development that includes a total of five phases and 304 units.
The original project included 322 units, with increased density in the form of more three and four-unit townhomes. The developer was "seeing increased demand in single-family homes and two-unit townhomes" and therefore, reconfigured the site, which resulted in a decreased density by 18 units — a change that is considered an administrative amendment to the original development and ,therefore, must be approved.
Finally, the council will consider a request from Bison Hill LLC for the Mountain View Planned Unit Development that abuts the north side of Foy's Lake Road, just west of the U.S. 93 bypass. Applicants are also seeking major preliminary plan approval for Phase 1 of the development.
According to city documents, the 139-acre property, located at 965 Foy's Lake Road, was previously annexed with a PUD overlay known as Willow Creek, which has since expired. The proposal in question is for a new development and was submitted by a different applicant.
The development calls for a total of 407 dwelling units — made up of 225 single-family lots, 16 cottage lots and 166 townhome lots, along with approximately 49 acres of open space and park area. The Phase 1 preliminary plat consists of roughly 21 of those acres with five single-family lots and 89 townhome lots, in addition to streets and open space.
The public meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on July 13 in the Kalispell City Council Chambers at 201 First Ave. E. in Kalispell.
Reporter Kianna Gardner may be reached at kgardner@dailyinterlake.com.