The Flathead Valley Community College Board of Trustees has given the green light to a state road construction project to relieve congestion at the intersection of U.S. Highway 93 and Reserve Drive.
That intersection will be the eventual terminus of the U.S. 93 Alternate Route, also known as the Kalispell bypass, when its northern portion is completed. To relieve traffic there, the Montana Department of Transportation plans to build a road running from Reserve Drive, behind the shopping center and FVCC, known as Reserve South – which is a part of the overall bypass project.
The deal still requires final approval from FVCC’s attorneys and engineers, and college officials are waiting on a final plan from MDT.
But the deal approved Aug. 1 sells 8.88 acres of college property to MDT for $444,000. The state will also pay: $120,000 to FVCC for the placement of roughly 55,000 cubic meters of waste dirt and an associated temporary construction permit; $14,500 for 250 plants, mulch and one season of landscaping by the college; $102,330 for FVCC to build a berm; $25,000 for the college to construct an access road from the roundabout; $22,712 in engineering fees for road design review; and $28,730 for design fees related to city water and sewer extensions, as well as construction observation.
The total deal is $757,272.
Additionally, MDT will construct and grant the college access at several points of the road during construction and grade the piece of 2.88-acre piece of FVCC property cut off by the new road.
The trustees’ specific votes allow FVCC to sell the property, and accept the terms of the draft right-of-way agreement, pending final review.
In a news release from the college, FVCC President Jane Karas called the agreement, “a win-win for the Department of Transportation, the college and the community.”
After a 14-day posting of the notice of sale, and the final approval of right-of-way plans, the college can move forward with the sale.