Kalispell council mulls recreation amenity requirements for developers
This courtesy photo from Eric Bruer shows a rendering of the future Parkline Trail during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, May 24, 2021.
The transformative Kalispell Parkline linear trail may be the impetus for changing recreation amenities required by the city for new residential development.
On Monday, the Kalispell City Council held a work session to review its requirements for subdivisions and multi-family housing developments. The city looked at regulations that require developers to either add a recreational amenity or pay cash in lieu of such an amenity when they build new subdivisions.
Multi-family developments, meanwhile, are exempt from the requirement.
City Manager Doug Russell explained the recreational components are required to guarantee “quality of community” and “quality of development” in medium and large housing projects. Since the Kalispell Parkline will provide a built-in park for developments that go into place along the multi-use path, members of the council decided to reevaluate these requirements.
State law does not require the city to ask developers for recreational amenities, which has led to discrepancies between municipalities. One of the biggest questions around the issue is the determination of the appropriate amount of cash-in-lieu payments used in place of recreational amenities.
Some cities, for instance, maintain a set amount for all developments. Others use land values or the size of the development for their calculations.
Kalispell Planning Director Jared Nygren drew up potential language the city could use to maintain “fair market value” across different developments in the city.
However, this proposal was overshadowed by different proposals about recreational requirements from counci lmembers.
Council member Sid Daoud, for instance, proposed eliminating the recreational amenity requirement since it isn’t part of state law. Daoud argued this move would decrease the cost to developers and, ultimately, the cost of housing.
Council member Ryan Hunter, on the other hand, favored recreational requirements. He offered several suggestions for creative ways developers could incorporate recreational components into their buildings, such as by including rooftop park space.
In the end, the council decided to revisit the question of recreational requirements for developers at a later council meeting.
Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.