Kalispell Council approves parking garage project for downtown

After hearing several 11th-hour comments that the eight-story building goes against the historic character of the area, Kalispell City Council on Monday sealed the deal on a parking garage for downtown.

Council approved a list of agreements with Montana Hotel Development Partners for the parking garage that also includes commercial space and multi-family housing, and approved the associated transfer of a lot to the same company for the construction of The Charles Hotel.

Prior to the votes, Council heard from roughly a dozen people expressing concerns about the parking garage proposal, which has been a topic of discussion for several months. Some expressed concern about displaced parking during construction while others said they aren’t keen on the inclusion of market-rate housing, but the primary objection came with the overall height of the building at eight stories.

John Hinchey, who has restored several buildings downtown, said the parking garage exceeds the height of any structure in the neighborhood and is vastly different from the originally proposed four story building that only provided parking.

“I’m not opposed to the original four story parking garage, but I am opposed to the eight story residential building,” he said.

Mayre Flowers of Citizens for a Better Flathead told Council it would be in the best interest of Kalispell to keep the building to four stories.

“Denying [this] will say to those who have invested in historic downtown Kalispell and to those who may choose to in the future invest in Kalispell downtown that while building up for density … may be appropriate in other areas of our community that the downtown historic area is an area where out of scale and unnecessary height requests will not be supported,” she said.

Laura Reynolds questioned the use of city tax increment finance (TIF) funds to reimburse the city for the cost of the land being transferred to the developer for the garage and hotel, and the $9.2 million in TIF dollars going to the construction of the parking garage.

“It seems like there’s too high of a cost for this project — the gift of the land, plus the TIF, plus the destroyed historical character of the downtown, plus the outraged neighbors and the outraged public all sound like too high of a cost,” she said.

STILL COUNCIL approved several agreements with Montana Hotel Development Partners to turn the parking lot at First Street West and First Avenue West into a parking garage containing 240 spaces, along with 6,200 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The project also includes 78 residential units on the upper four floors.

Council also OK’d a conditional use permit for the parking garage and that will allow the building to be constructed over 60 feet in height. The building is planned at 88 feet tall.

It also approved transferring a city-owned lot at Third Street West and Main Street to the developers for the construction of The Charles Hotel.

Councilor Sid Daoud said the project does a good job of using TIF funds to revitalize the downtown.

“I’m in favor of this because it’s converting government parking lots that are losing us money into entities that are going to feed into the economy,” he said.

A lot of housing projects come before Council that receive criticism because people don’t want them in their own neighborhood, he added.

“We have a huge need for housing,” Daoud said. “ This may not be low income or workforce, but every available unit helps with our overall housing issue. The housing component is amazing that the developer put this in there. “

Councilor Ryan Hunter, who voted against several of the agreements, again expressed displeasure with parts of the project.

“Having parking and housing downtown is great, but I just can’t support this development due to the amount of public subsidy going to it,” he said.

Several Councilors said that the height of the building provides a benefit to the city by keeping development in the core and helping to reduce urban sprawl.

The projects resulted from a city request for proposals to redevelop the Main Street lot. The developers submitted plans for The Charles Hotel for the lot and since the hotel requires valet parking, the company additionally proposed construction of a parking garage about two blocks north at First Avenue West and First Street West.

The developers earlier this year returned with a change to the parking garage seeking to add housing to the project.

The city is set to reimburse the developer for the public parking garage construction from TIF funds generated by The Charles Hotel and parking garage development.

The parking garage will be owned and operated by the developer but leased back to the city.

As part of the parking garage agreement, the developer will be required to give first right of refusal to the current parking permit holders for obtaining parking in the garage.

Council also approved a resolution that temporarily removes two-hour parking restrictions on Second Street and Fourth Street effective for when parking permit holders are displaced due to construction of the garage and the hotel.

Features Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com.