Last night, Kalispell City Council discussed parking lot problems at 17th St. W. and First Ave. W. near Legends Stadium. The city-owned lot has attracted a late night crowd doing burnouts, drifting, and disturbing nearby homeowners and renters, according to Kalispell resident Dale Bolz who has advocated for the neighborhood during public comment. He and his wife sat in their car every night for two weeks “to monitor the situation,” he stated in an April 1 letter to council.

“Sometimes, there may be 15-20 cars parked after 10 p.m. in the lot, with additional cars and trucks parading through and stopping often doing God knows what,” Bolz stated. “Some scream at high speeds up and down First Avenue West and the same on Airport Road. Some have very loud truck horns and disrespectfully blow them at will which wakes up residents.”

City Manager Doug Russell posed to the council altering the hours of the lot, which is currently closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., to instead close at 7 p.m., making an exception for school-related events, the lot’s intended purpose.

The council deliberated about potential impact to rideshare users who may also use the lot, whether locals would find it confusing that the hours would differ from other city parking lots, the later setting of the sun in the summer months, along with other possible solutions such as planting tall shrubs to help muffle the noise.

“I think we’re making this too hard,” said Councilor Kari Gabriel. “I think if there’s a sign that says ‘Event Parking Only After 7 p.m.’ or something along those lines so people can only be parked there if there’s an event … I think Mr. Russell can help us wordsmith or perhaps the chief so that it’s clear to people.”

The council ultimately agreed to continue moving forward with the intention to shorten the lot’s final hour to 7 p.m.

“I don’t have heartburn about changing the time,” Councilor Sid Daoud said. “I do want to talk to some of the people that were involved down there and say, ‘Hey, do you know we’re having an entire city council meeting about you and this parking lot?’”

The council also discussed raising police and fire department impact fees, which are tacked on to residential, apartment and commercial spaces. The fees are updated on a regular basis and calculated based on the space needs for law enforcement and capital needs for the fire department. The city hasn’t adopted a new set of fees in over a decade, despite a 2015 review from the Impact Fee Committee that suggested using higher fees.

Several councilors expressed a general dislike of impact fees and raising them, citing costs to Kalispell residents and a need for affordable housing.

“High tide raises all boats,” said Daoud.

Councilor Ryan Hunter said he wasn’t overly concerned based on the cost of homes in the valley.

“There is a point where it gets so high that it becomes a burden and can have those consequences,” he said. “But I looked at these numbers and when you think about houses in the valley and they’re going for $600,000, and you know, that’s for single-resident units … it’s pretty small.”

The council will tentatively put the impact fees to a vote in early June.

I’m Zoë Buhrmaster, here with you for Tuesday’s Daily Roundup.