Flathead Warming Center attorney warns permit revocation could lead to lawsuit

An attorney for the Flathead Warming Center has warned Kalispell City Council that revoking the homeless shelter's permit would violate state and federal law, and result in litigation.   

Michelle T. Weinberg, hired by the Warming Center in June, asserted in a July 12 letter to Council that the shelter has not violated any of the nine conditions included in its conditional use permit, which was first approved in 2020 and amended in 2022. 

“As such, to revoke [the Warming Center’s] 2020 and 2022 [conditional use permits] years after the fact in an attempt to retroactively deny its approval would constitute an arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and unlawful act contrary to the powers granted to this Council by the Montana Legislature,” the letter read.