Kalispell City Council seeks countywide summit on homelessness

Kalispell City Council is considering organizing a summit for Flathead County’s three municipalities regarding homelessness.

Councilor Chad Graham pitched the idea during Council’s Oct. 2 meeting, citing a Daily Inter Lake article published last week featuring an interview with Tonya Horn, executive director of the Flathead Warming Center. Horn told the newspaper that the community needs more beds to house the valley’s homeless population.

“Shelter is the first step to breaking the cycle of homelessness,” Horn said last week. “Simply moving people along to the next ‘door step’ is not a community solution. I hold hope that we can find community solutions that are right for the Flathead, but we must work together.”

Graham raised Horn’s comments at the end of Council’s meeting, saying that community solutions must be valley wide, not just Kalispell based.

“We’re the only community in this valley creating opportunities and beds for the homeless community,” Graham said. “Kalispell is not a flophouse. And we’re not a doormat to Whitefish.”

Graham said he wanted to see other municipalities approve more housing construction, examine zoning requirements to allow homeless shelters and work with Kalispell to create a valley-wide approach to the issue.

Mayor Mark Johnson and Councilors Ryan Hunter and Sid Daoud expressed support for the theoretical meeting.

“We’re a big valley,” Graham said, “[services don’t] all have to be in Kalispell.”

Homelessness has grown into a contested topic in the valley in recent years. Graham alleged that cities like Whitefish and Columbia Falls shuttle homeless people to Kalispell to get them services.

Council enacted a series of ordinances last winter following the temporary closure of the gazebo at Depot Park, a move that grew out of residents’ concerns about homeless people using the structure. Those measures include limiting the time a person could spend in a public park, banning the erection of structures on public property and restricting the amount of personal belongings an individual could bring into a public space.

Another ordinance aimed at tamping down on roadside panhandling, which included possible fines for motorists stopping to hand over cash, was approved in the spring.

COUNCIL ALSO agreed Monday to move ahead with a roughly $1.7 million sewage infrastructure project, accepting a bid for the effort as part of its consent agenda.

The sewage infrastructure project will see the replacement of concrete pipe and other structures corroded by hydrogen sulfide along the stretch of main leading to the wastewater treatment plant, according to Public Works Department documents.

The lowest bid for the project, made by Kalispell-based NCC Nuemann, came in at $13,972 over the amount allotted for the undertaking, officials said, but they recommended Council press ahead regardless.

The consent agenda also included the acceptance of an $80,000 grant for the Kalispell Fire Department’s hazardous materials team.

Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, under the State Homeland Security Program for fiscal year 2024, applied for financial assistance for the Kalispell Fire Department’s Hazmat Team Sustainment Project. The project was approved in the amount of $80,000 and will support local efforts to prepare communities and equip local hazmat teams, according to a memo from Kalispell Fire Chief Daniel Pearce.

COUNCIL MOVED forward with several planning requests, including the annexation and zoning of the Meadowlark Trailer Court on Airport Road, a 5.97 acre property that is home to 31 mobile homes and one single family home, according to Planning Department documents.

Alongside the annexation and zoning of Meadowlark Trailer Court, Council voted to approve a conditional use permit for the Kynzie Lane Townhomes, which will allow the creation of four townhomes on a property located on Kynzie Lane, off of Fifth Avenue East.

Two resolutions also passed: one to hold a public meeting regarding the PRO housing grant application and another to hold a public hearing for budget amendments. Both will be held Oct. 16.

Council also approved the final plat request for phase two of the Begg subdivision, which is part of a larger 300-unit complex that received a conditional use permit in 2018.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.