As Kalispell makes preparations to reshape its core with redevelopment and remodeling over the next decades, city staff is looking at changes that would improve the navigability of the city for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Jennifer Young with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department guided a walking tour with more than a dozen people through eight blocks of downtown last week, pointing out the current lay of the land.
Many city streets with storefronts were without adequate sidewalks, or any sidewalk at all, including the side of West Center Street following the Kalispell Center Mall. Bike lanes that safely and clearly make room for riders were nowhere to be found among the congested downtown traffic. Several bikes were chained to trees because there was nowhere else to lock them up.
“Take note of what you see. Also take note of what you wish you’d see,” Young said to the crowd. “It’s time to start thinking of these issues now.”
The City of Kalispell is in the infant stages of revitalizing the heart of the city through an expansive update to its growth policy, titled the Kalispell Core Area Revitalization Plan. The plan calls for several upgrades in infrastructure, including the primary change of removing the railroad tracks cutting through town. Once more than three miles of tracks are removed, the city would like to create a linear park, or trail system, that connects with the existing trails and encourages pedestrian and bicycle travel.
Improving navigability is one of the top goals of the Core Area Plan, and last week’s “walking audit” aimed to further inform that solution.
“The goal is to get feedback from the community and hear what they see as what needs to happen in the downtown area,” Young said. “Maybe it’s something we can’t do right away, or maybe it’s something simple.”
Young said both businesses and residents would benefit from safer, better sidewalks and streets.
“A community that is more bicycle and walker friendly is more healthy,” she said. “And I think if you have people walking downtown or riding their bikes downtown, they’re going to park their bike and walk around.”
During the tour, Young pointed out the barriers that currently exist and then focused on other aspects that can make downtown friendlier to visitors, including flowerpots and landscaping. She used First Interstate Bank on the corner of Center and U.S. Highway 93 as an example of a business being proactive. The business has its own bike rack along with green grass and shrubs decorating its property.
She asked the group to consider ways the city can encourage other businesses to do the same, or “think outside the box” for other alternative solutions.
“Input from the public and businesses downtown is really essential any time you’re trying to introduce potential change,” said Parks and Rec Director Mike Baker, who joined the tour. “We’ve got a really good start right now. Twenty years ago, downtown looked totally different than it does right now. What we are entertaining is the idea of a walkable community or biking community or something that is friendly in that respect and is a very healthy community.”
The city already has more than 24 miles of trails in place, and a new path may be about to break ground.
On Aug. 5, after the Beacon went to print, the city council voted whether to award a contract for Phase I of the Highway 93 Bike/Pedestrian Path from North Meridian to Sunnyview Lane. The contract cost $82,964, and the city would be responsible for $17,504. Construction is expected to begin later this month.
When completed, the new trail will become another piece of an eventual cohesive system that travels east to west and north and south across Kalispell. The second phase of the Highway 93 path would stretch from Sunnyview to East Wyoming.
The city hopes that improvements downtown would better connect the trail system, through sidewalks and the proposed linear park.
“All the pieces are kind of there. If we could just connect the dots, it’s going to be a unique situation that is more inviting and easier for people to access downtown,” Baker said.
“We could put together a pretty technical system of walking and bicycling.”
To submit input to the city about ways to improve walkability in downtown, email Jennifer Young at [email protected] or drop letters off at City Hall, 201 First Ave. E.