fbpx

Kalispell Annexes Land for Possible Apartment Complex

Developer poised to seek conditional use permit to build 55-unit apartment complex along Airport Road

By Dillon Tabish

The Kalispell City Council annexed 3.79 acres along Airport Road and zoned the empty land to allow multi-family residential housing, opening the door for the potential development of an apartment complex.

The council voted unanimously on Dec. 5 to bring the open land in south Kalispell into city limits and zone it RA-1, which allows a limited density of residential development. Both actions followed the request of a local developer who would like to build an apartment complex on the 3.79-acre lot at the corner of Airport Road and Teal Drive, an area that is poised for significant growth following the construction of a new elementary school.

The city’s zoning would allow for 55 apartment units on the land, and David Weber, a Kalispell resident who is spearheading the development, is expected to seek a conditional use permit for the complex. He previously pitched constructing five three-story buildings with a total of 96 units, and then reduced it to 82.

The multi-family complex sparked resistance from the surrounding neighborhood and the city received a petition with 133 signatures opposed to zoning the land RA-2, which would allow for more than 80 units. Residents in the surrounding neighborhood have raised concerns about density, congestion and privacy issues related to the three-story buildings.

The petition sought to have the land zoned RA-1 to reduce the size and scope of the complex. After revising his application, Weber presented the annexation and RA-1 zoning requests to the city’s planning board, which recommended approval of both.

Weber will next request a conditional use permit from the city to build the apartments.

The apartment complex would be in the same area as the future elementary school, which is slated to break ground in spring 2017, as well as 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.