Huge parking garage out of character for historic Main Street

If you are wondering what in the world is going on with an eight-story parking structure in the middle of historic downtown Kalispell, you are not alone. I too have issues with this mammoth project approved by the Kalispell City Council at their Oct. 4 meeting. 

This project was brought forth to re-address the original four-story parking garage previously approved by the council. At that time, it was truly a parking garage located on the city-owned Eagles lot at the corner of 1st Street West and 1st Avenue West. The structure was to be built by the same developers building the Charles Hotel on the city-owned parking lot at 3rd Street and Main. With 242 parking spaces and some ground floor retail space, the primary purpose of the garage was to supply badly needed parking for the city, as well as required parking for the new Charles Hotel. The hotel was to be owned by the developers but the four-story garage was to be owned and managed by the city.

These projects were approved by the City Council and enthusiastically supported by the Kalispell community. Of the two parking lots in question, the 3rd and Main Street lot has about 60 spaces, while the Eagles lot has 50, so 110 total parking spaces currently exist on the two lots.

A structure with 242 spaces, was an increase of 132 spaces in the four-story design. But, the developer was always requiring 90 of those spaces for Charles Hotel valet services, leaving 42 additional spaces, for the city, in the four-story garage. 

Then the developers returned to the table with a "better plan." The new plan had the "parking garage" grow from four to eight stories, with four additional stories above the parking floors, housing 78 market-rate luxury apartments. People then began to question how much additional parking was Kalispell really going to end up with? 

With only 42 spaces available, and 78 additional apartment units added, it is obvious that we are back to an ever more pronounced parking shortage. The 42 spaces available are not nearly enough to accommodate the added luxury apartment units, each one requiring at least one space, some more. This is no longer a parking garage project but an apartment development, with far less parking in downtown Kalispell for shopkeepers, office workers, restauranteurs, and tourists than we currently have with the two parking lots. What was once a badly needed parking garage is now a large luxury apartment development in the heart of historic downtown Kalispell, providing less parking than before. 

To make matters worse, the developers have persuaded our City Council to use tax increment funding to reimburse them, over time for the total cost of the parking/apartment structure. In addition they will be reimbursed for their original cost of the land for both the hotel and the parking/apartment structure, courtesy of the city of Kalispell, and its taxpayers. What a sweet deal for the developers, at the expense of the Kalispell taxpayers. 

Our city government is 100% behind these projects for the simple reason that parking lots around the city are not generating any tax revenue for the city coffers. Now, however, the tax these projects generate will be used to pay back the developers over the next 20 years, until they are completely reimbursed for the $9 million structure and the land they will own.

In the meantime, our quality of life in downtown Kalispell will be severely degraded. 

So beware Kalispell, you are getting a massive eight-story development in the heart of downtown Kalispell, completely out of character with our historic district, and ultimately paid for by the taxpayers. And watch out, there are other city owned lots being considered for similar misguided developments.

If you are not happy with this, let your voice be heard. Attend council meetings and phone your council person. The character of our downtown and our city for future generations depends on it. 

— John Hinchey, Kalispell