Kalispell council reluctantly approves FairBridge permit

The Kalispell City Council on Monday approved a controversial conditional-use permit request to turn the FairBridge Inn & Suites and Conference Center into 250 studio apartments.

Council member Chad Graham called the meeting the “worst day on the council I’ve ever had.”

The council was reluctant but unanimous in approving the request from Fortify Holdings, LLC, because the sale of the hotel and the ensuing conversion will result in the displacement of more than 100 hotel extended-stay guests.

Current residents of the FairBridge Inn last month received notices that they would need to find other accommodations by Feb. 12.

Several of the soon-to-be-displaced spoke during the public comment period of the city council meeting Monday. They were joined by numerous service providers from local nonprofits including the Flathead Food Bank, Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana and Samaritan House. The public commenters all lamented the displacement, and some urged the council to take action to stall Fortify’s plans.

“We need to have that discussion about what are we going to do as a city and how are we going to house these people,” said Jamie Quinn, Executive Director of the Flathead Food Bank. “It needs to be a community response and the city council has to be a part of that.”

But Council member Sid Daoud summarized the sentiment felt by many on the city council regarding the conditional-use permit. “We’re kind of in a rock and a hard place here,” Daoud said.

The council in its discussion noted that FairBridge CEO Steve Rice plans to turn off all of the utilities and close the property on Feb. 12 as part of the sale, no matter the council’s decision on the conditional-use permit request.

Fortify Project Manager Cameron Wagar said the company would be amenable to pushing back its plans if Rice opted to extend the deadline for current residents, but there was no word from Rice — who is out of the office until Feb. 16, according to his voicemail — that he planned to delay the move-out date.

Regardless of Rice’s decision, Kalispell City Attorney Charlie Harball explained the council is limited in the conditions it could put on the permit and the reasons it could vote to deny the request. Harball said legally, the impact on the current residents would not be considered an acceptable cause for denial.

“The council can only do what it has the legal authority to do,” Harball said.

He suggested looking at future growth policies and affordable housing options as the best legal remedy to the FairBridge Inn dilemma.

Council member Ryan Hunter made a motion to postpone the vote so he and the public could get a written explanation of the grounds the city has to deny the proposal, but his motion failed with only his, Jessica Dahlman’s and Sid Daoud’s support.

To the residents affected by the hotel closure, Mayor Mark Johnson said, “Understand that we do feel, we do appreciate, what you’re going through. We can only hope and pray that a solution emerges very, very quickly.”

In addition to the hotel discussion, the council also unanimously approved another conditional-use permit request from Bergen, LLC. for an accessory casino inside the Kalispell Mercantile Building in downtown Kalispell.

ALSO DURING the meeting, Health Officer Joe Russell gave an update on the status of Covid-19 in the county.

Russell said the county reached a peak of 3,500 lab-identified cases at one time last month, with an estimated 2.8 additional cases for every one lab-identified case.

He also said hospital rates are hovering between 43 and 50 hospitalized Covid-19 patients per day. “We’re still in a little bit of a crisis in our hospital systems,” he said.

However, Russell added, “Data is going in the right direction. Will it stay that way? Only time’s going to tell on that.”

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