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On The Agenda: Final Prerelease Vote, Hockaday Expansion

By Beacon Staff

Kalispell City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m. for a final vote to allow a prerelease center to be located at a currently vacant building along the west side of U.S. Highway 93, near the south entrance to the city.

This second vote follows a controversial April 6 vote to allow for a zoning change paving the way for the center, which has drawn significant opposition from businesses and residents of south Kalispell. Prerelease centers are designed to help offenders as they transition from prison back to their communities by allowing them to finish out their sentences while starting jobs and staying in a controlled facility that offers counseling, education and job training. Read about the previous vote here.

Also on tonight’s agenda:

–The group planning to tear down Sawbuck and replace it with a Montana Club has requested a conditional use permit, which the council previously delayed voting on to work out some signage questions.

–Cornerstone Community Church is requesting final approval of a two-lot subdivision on four acres near the intersection of U.S. 93 and Northridge Drive to allow Valley Bank to build a new location.

–Hockaday Museum of Art is requesting a zoning change that would pave the way for an expansion in downtown Kalispell.

–Council must decide whether to enter into an interlocal agreement with Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Flathead County, establishing a governing board to administer the new 911 center, under construction in north Kalispell.

–The Montana Municipal Insurance Authority recently changed its name to the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority, requiring votes to change the names of a number of related programs.