Kalispell Council to vote on C-PACE district, parks ordinances

Kalispell City Council on Monday will weigh a resolution considering the creation of a C-PACE district and three ordinances that would place limits on the use of public parks facilities.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 201 First Ave. E., and can also be attended via Zoom.

Council is expected to approve the creation of a special assessment district, a required step for local governments taking part in Montana’s C-PACE program, which the state implemented last year.

The program is designed to help commercial property owners fund energy efficient capital improvements through a financing scheme that allows for loans to be paid for through cost-savings over the life of the upgrade.

Also on Monday’s agenda are three ordinances that would enact restrictions on the use of public parks facilities.

Council will discuss an ordinance that would limit an individual’s “excessive personal property,” at public facilities, “making it unlawful to place, store, or maintain personal property … so as not to interfere with another’s use of public property.”

They will also weigh ordinances that ban the erection of structures on public property and limit the time an individual could use covered park structures without a permit to 90 cumulative minutes per day.

At the council’s Jan. 23 work session, several members raised concerns about the 90-minute limit, saying that they felt it should be lengthened to three hours or more before they could support such an ordinance.

The city is considering the new ordinances following multiple resident and business owner complaints about the visible presence of homeless people in the Depot Park gazebo as well as complaints about drug and alcohol consumption, public urination and the accumulation of waste in the area.

The previous work session on the topic turned into a four hour town hall discussion on the ordinances and homelessness itself. Members of the public shared impassioned and diverse opinions on the causes of and potential solutions to the city’s rise in homelessness.

ALSO ON the agenda are resolutions considering a grant application for a multi-use path connection on the north side of Four Mile Drive at the west end of the Kalispell Youth Athletic Complex, and the issuance of bonds to fund the construction of a sewage lift station.

The public can submit comments in advance to publiccomment@kalispell.com or speak to the council at the meeting or via Zoom during the public comment period.

Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at 758-4407 or aknowler@dailyinterlake.com.