City council to vote on city airport amendment

Kalispell City Council will vote Monday on an amended master plan for the Kalispell City Airport.

The Kalispell Users’ Association, which maintains and operates the airport, has requested an amendment to the document to allow construction of a facility to house the Experimental Aircraft Association. The proposed facility would go up on a location previously used as a hangar, according to a memo to the council by City Manager Doug Russell.

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

The lease between the city and the Kalispell Users’ Association allows changes by mutual agreement. In his memo, Russell wrote that the project would come at no cost to city coffers.

Founded in 1953 by a group of flight enthusiasts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin interested in building their own airplanes, the Experimental Aircraft Association is an aviation club aimed at fans of antiques, aerobatic aircraft, ultralights, helicopters and contemporary manufactured aircraft, according to its website. Chapters span the country, including in the Kalispell and Polson areas.

THE MEETING will also serve as a venue for public comments on the roughly city’s $139 million preliminary fiscal year 2024 budget and a previously proposed water rate hike.

For residents who cannot attend but who wish to comment, public comments can also be submitted by email to publiccomment@kalispell.com.

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