Kalispell council approves massive housing subdivision

Saying the benefits of the development for a growing community outweigh the drawbacks, Kalispell City Council on Monday gave its unanimous approval of a massive subdivision proposed for construction in North Kalispell.

Spring Creek Park is planned to include more than 600 housing units, along with commercial lots and a park area located to the east of West Springcreek Road.

Council was uniformly enthusiastic about the development, despite public comments raising concerns about the impacts of the development and a petition submitted in opposition to the project.

“If you think back years ago when your development was built, the neighbors next to you probably thought the same as how you think right now,” Council member Sandy Carlson said to the residents living near Spring Creek Park. “But we need to grow and accept those changes.”

The 90.87-acre property is located between Two Mile Drive and Three Mile Drive. Developer GKM Associates, LLC received approval for a zone change, a residential mixed-use planned unit development overlay and a preliminary plat for the project.

Spring Creek Park includes plans for 464 multi-family dwelling units, 65 detached single-family dwellings, and 113 townhome/rowhouse dwellings, plus two commercial lots, park area, and open space.

Seven public commenters spoke against the proposal at the meeting on Monday. Their top concern was traffic on Two Mile Drive, but they also brought up issues with the increased density, the impact on schools, affordability, infrastructure and taxes. One public commenter was upset about the potential for an eventual roundabout to be installed at the intersection of West Springcreek Road and Three Mile Drive.

Council member Ryan Hunter also addressed concerns about the project.

“With a rapidly growing community, people cannot expect the area around them to be frozen in time,” Hunter said. “Zoning will and must change to accommodate our rapid growth because we are a rapidly growing community. With so much change in our community, it is not fair to say that all the change must happen somewhere else to someone else.”

The developer asked to change 25.6 acres of R-3 (Residential) zoning to RA-1(Residential Apartment). It also requested realigning and expanding the B-1 area from 3.1 acres to approximately 5.82 acres. Finally, the developer proposed replacing the existing planned unit development overlay with a new overlay over the entire property.

COUNCIL ALSO gave its unanimous approval for a preliminary plat for Phase 3 of Silverbrook Estates.

This portion of the project contains 10 residential and two commercial lots on 22.12 acres in the northeast portion of the development off U.S. Highway 93 between Silverbrook Drive and Church Drive.

A new preliminary plat was necessary because of changes in property lines since the development was originally approved.

Finally, council held a public hearing on updates to its floodplain policy, but there were no public comments.

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