Kalispell City Council to host budget public hearing, vote on housing, sewer regs

Kalispell City Council will vote at its Monday meeting on housing and commercial development projects as well as move toward adopting industrial sewer regulations and hold a public hearing on the proposed municipal budget.

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

Council will be considering a new preliminary plat layout on the Stillwater Crossing mixed-use development as the developer wants to build more apartment buildings in lieu of previously-approved single-family homes.

The amended layout calls for replacing the 83 single family lots with 24 townhouse units and 120 apartments, in addition to the 192 apartments already approved.

The apartment complex’s website shows 96 of the original 192 units are currently available, with one-bedroom units starting at $1,695 and two-bedroom units starting at $2,095.

The remaining three buildings are expected to be completed by August, according to developer Jason Evans.

Council will also discuss a request from Stillwater Corporation for major subdivision approval of the fourth phase of its Kalispell North Town Center project. A similar request was approved in 2020, but the developer has since opted to shift a common area and utility easement as part of engineering design, according to PJ Sorensen, senior planner with the city.

The request is for a roughly 12-acre plot within the 485-acre project, and would include 10 commercial lots, a common area and a new city street. The project also includes zoning for single-family residential construction.

Council will also consider final plat approval for phase one of Stillwater Bend, a subdivision containing 15 commercial lots on around 25 acres located near the intersection of U.S. 93 North and Rose Crossing.

COUNCIL WILL host a public hearing on the city’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget.

The total budget proposed by City Manager Doug Russell comes in at just under $139 million. The general fund, responsible for bankrolling most administrative and public safety operations, is expected to come in at $15.5 million, up from $14.1 million last year.

Russell said in a May meeting unveiling the budget that the increases are largely due to previously ratified wage adjustments and the cost of health insurance benefits for city employees.

About half of the general fund is expected to come from property tax revenue, which Russell estimated could rise by between 2.5% and 5%. The final numbers won’t be known until the budget is finalized and mill values are set by the state in August.

Owing to a mixup in posting a legal notice, officials plan to extend the public hearing to Council’s July 17 meeting, according to a memo written by Aimee Cooke, city financial director.

Council is expected to consider the final budget and set mills at its Aug. 21 meeting.

FINALLY, COUNCIL will vote on a package of measures that will take the city closer to adopting and implementing industrial sewer pretreatment regulations as required by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The changes would require the city to do sampling and permitting of certain industrial facilities to ensure they are not releasing toxic or dangerous waste into the municipality’s sewer system.

The regulations would protect the area’s lakes and streams from toxic pollutants and preserve the city’s multimillion-dollar investment in the sewage treatment facility, which is not designed to handle toxic industrial waste, according to Al Garcia, EPA’s regional pretreatment coordinator.

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

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