Kalispell council OKs offers for Old School Station lots

After five years, Old School Station has suddenly emerged as prime Kalispell real estate.

At a City Council meeting Monday night, the city considered four separate offers for multiple lots in the large parcel of city land located behind Fun Beverage in South Kalispell.

The city of Kalispell took the land over from Flathead County in 2015, but the first of the six lots didn’t sell for approximately four years. A buyer emerged for Lot 6 in 2019, and another purchased Lot 4 in 2020.

Now, just this month, two more lots will likely be taken off the market.

The council unanimously approved an offer for Lot 9 from Mark and Janie Cantrell, for $228,420, the full asking price for the parcel.

The Cantrells weren’t the only ones interested in Lot 9. In fact, their offer only received approval after Matterhorn Capital failed to realize plans to buy Lots 3A, 8 and 9.

Matterhorn Capital also withdrew an additional offer for Lot 3A, which drew four total offers, including one submitted on the afternoon of the City Council meeting.

The council ultimately decided to pursue an offer from School District 5 to buy Lot 3A.

The school’s offer—though technically not the highest dollar value out of the three proposals that remained for consideration after Matterhorn dropped out—had the highest value out of all the offers that came in before the city published the offers in its agenda for the meeting.

School District 5 offered $430,000 for Lot 3A, well above the asking price of $409,658.00.

Offering $440,000, DCP Kalispell LLC outbid School District 5 with the company’s late offer Monday afternoon, but the council voted to honor offers based on dollar value and the time they were received. Mayor Mark Johnson abstained from the vote.

Therefore, School District 5’s offer took the top spot on the city’s list. If the city and the school are unable to come to terms on a buy-sell agreement, next in line would be Clifton Jones’ offer of $420,000.

DCP Kalispell LLC, which currently owns Lot 2A in Old School Station, would be considered to purchase Lot 3A if the preceding two offers fail to materialize into buy-sell agreements with the city.

School District 5’s offer comes with a few notable caveats.

According to state law, the school is exempt from local zoning regulations. The council voted to include an amendment eliminating that exemption in the counter-offer it plans to offer the school district later this week.

The school is also exempt from property taxes on the Old School Station lot. City Manager Doug Russell pointed out the school would have “net zero” impact on local property taxes since the district would be tax-exempt whether it owns property in Old School Station or elsewhere in the city.

Additionally, as Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Micah Hill clarified, purchasing the land will be subject to public approval from voters, who take up the issue in May.

Notwithstanding those outlying factors, the sudden interest in property at Old School Station was a source of encouragement for city officials who have worked on redeveloping the land.

Russell said he was impressed by the “seemingly overwhelming success of Old School Station when we’ve gone through five years of waiting.”

The council also approved a two-year preliminary plat extension for Phase 2 of Rockwood Ranch. Hunter cast the only opposing vote because the original plat approval did not include 100-foot riparian buffers.

The development of the subdivision planned for West Spring Creek Road and Three Mile Drive apparently has been halted because of COVID-19 delays.

Finally, lingering concerns about the debate over social media use at the council’s Feb. 22 work session were addressed.

During the public comment period Jamie Quinn said she was “disheartened” by the way the work session played out.

“If we spend work sessions like this just berating one city councilor, I’m concerned as a taxpayer that that’s what we’re wasting our time on,” Quinn said. “I would just really ask that the council, even in work session meetings, focuses on better spending their time.”

Russell said he would look into arranging a workshop to discuss the issue with Dan Clark from Montana State University’s Local Government Center for the first council work session in April.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.