The arrival of winter isn’t slowing development plans across the Flathead Valley, including south Kalispell, where residential growth is popping up in anticipation of a new elementary school.
The city of Kalispell has received a preliminary plat application for a 37-lot subdivision featuring single-family homes. The development, called South Side Estates, would fill up an 8.8-acre tract of land south of Merganser Drive off Airport Road next to the U.S. Highway 93 Alternate Route. The development is the ninth and final phase of the subdivision that includes Ashley Park. The city’s planning board will review it at a December meeting.
The Kalispell City Council is expected to review plans for a proposed apartment complex in the same area along Airport Road. A local developer originally pitched a 96-unit complex on 3.79 acres but has said he would revise the proposal after neighborhood outcry emerged in opposition to the three-story project, which requires annexation into city limits. Neighbors expressed concern about density and traffic congestion issues related to the multi-family development.
The city’s planning board recently recommended approval of annexation and an RA-1 zoning for the project, which would limit the project to a maximum of 55 units. The planning board will review design standards for the newly fashioned project at a later meeting. The city council is expected to decide on the annexation and initial zoning requests at its Dec. 5 meeting, according to city staff.
Both residential projects reflect heightened attention in an area gaining a significant redevelopment driver in the form of a new elementary school. The Kalispell school district received voter approval this fall of a bond to build a new facility, which is expected to break ground next summer along Airport Road.
Through November, Kalispell has issued building permits for 135 single family and duplex units compared to 64 a year ago.
Other significant development projects are moving forward as well, primarily the 164,691-square-foot pediatric center on the Kalispell Regional Healthcare campus. The city of Kalispell recently issued a building permit for the $37 million project, which is emerging at 310 Sunny View Lane. The large new addition to the Kalispell Regional campus is slated to open in spring 2018.
In Whitefish, the city is reviewing a proposal to build a 22-lot subdivision on a 4.7-acre lot along Colorado Avenue that is zoned for single-family homes and duplexes. The planning board recommended approval of the subdivision, called Cottonwood Estates, which sits on empty property. As part of its stipulations, the planning board recommended the developer put in a homeowners association park as green space. The city council is expected to review the proposal at its Dec. 5 meeting.
A 60-unit apartment complex featuring five buildings off U.S. Highway 93 South near the new Hampton Inn is surfacing and is expected to be completed by spring. Across the road, a new subdivision near Les Schwab with a new road and hotel is breaking ground.