Kalispell City Council debates tougher panhandling ordinance

Looking to Florida and Utah laws that fine both drivers and solicitors as potential examples, Kalispell City Council discussed Monday beefing up the municipality’s panhandling ordinance.

The discussion came at the behest of Councilor Chad Graham, who requested a review at the group’s last meeting. On Monday, Graham said that panhandling had become so prevalent in Kalispell that it posed a safety hazard.

He said that panhandlers should be creative, but avoid roadways.

Kalispell’s current ordinance bans panhandling within 20 feet of an intersection, on mass transit, at a bus stop or on private property. It also prohibits behaviors that could be considered aggressive, such as following, blocking or harassing while soliciting donations.

Violations are potentially punishable by a fine of up to $500 under city code.

But in Pasco County, Florida and Springville, Utah, drivers are also potentially culpable for handing over cash to roadside panhandlers. City staff presented both jurisdictions’ laws to council for review.

The Pasco County and Springville ordinances bans commercial use or physical interaction on roadways and prohibits occupying a median. They hold both panhandlers and drivers making donations criminally responsible, punishable by a fine of up to $500 in Pasco County’s case.

Graham received broad support from his colleagues, with several councilors sharing anecdotal accounts of instances where they had observed panhandling.

Councilor Ryan Hunter questioned the necessity and timing of the push for the overhaul, saying that he hadn’t seen data that supported claims that panhandling had become an issue in Kalispell.

Hunter requested that City Manager Doug Russell compile traffic data showing pedestrian collisions at intersections.

Russell said that he would have the data for next week’s meeting, as well as a sample ordinance text for council to debate.

COUNCIL ALSO heard a presentation by economist Patrick Barkey of the University of Montana’s Bureau for Business and Economic Research on the Flathead Valley’s housing shortage and affordability crisis.

Barkey went through statistics showing increasing demand in the area over the last several years, as well as a growing gap between housing availability and need.

He described the combination as a perfect storm, and a “disastrous turn of events in terms of affordability.”

Bridging the gap would require a large amount of residential construction over the next 10 years, Barley said, at an average of 1,500 units per year countywide, a significantly higher rate of construction than what has occurred up to this point.

Barkey’s report was funded by Location Ventures, a housing developer seeking permission to build an apartment complex in Columbia Falls.

Adding that amount of housing would stabilize housing prices, Barkey said. But he warned that it would not address the affordability crisis in the short term.

His report cited a New York University work paper that found that for every 10% growth in housing stock, adjacent rents came down by 1%.

Planning Director Jarod Nygren estimated that Kalispell has about 12,000 housing units and could feasibly add around 500 units per year, depending on several factors that affect development.

At this rate, it would take 20 years for rents to come down by approximately 10%, if demand does not continue to increase. According to statistics from Community Action Partnership, one-bedroom apartments in Kalispell now rent for over $1,400 per month.

Mayor Mark Johnson said he believed that lowering the barriers to market-rate housing development would increase total supply.

But he acknowledged supply-side strategies might not benefit working-class people soon enough, and said he was afraid that working-class people could be priced out of the valley.

“It takes time to work through market inefficiencies,” he said in an interview after the meeting.

Council meets again at City Hall next Monday at 7 p.m.

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