02-28-20 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
2/28/2020
1. Public Works
TSS LED Conversions
TSS completed another phase of LED conversions for Kalispell’s street lights. They
replaced 53 old high-pressure sodium luminaires ranging from 100w-200w. The lights
are primarily located downtown as well as a few around the hospital.
Location Light Quantity
E Center
St
200w
HPS 13
3rd Ave
EN
200w
HPS 12
1st St E
200w
HPS 3
2nd St E
200w
HPS 3
2nd Ave
W
150w
HPS 6
1st St W
200w
HPS 2
3rd St W
200w
HPS 2
Sunnyview
100w
HPS 8
Heritage
100w
HPS 4
The new LED lights are 85w and match the other LED upgrades with a 5000k color
temperature. They have a “multi-tap” feature allowing TSS to change the lumens from
9,000-12,700 depending on the location. The muti-tap feature allows TSS to use one
standard head instead of a having to stock different head varieties. The purchase price
was $11,660 and we are estimating the City will receive a rebate from FEC for about
$6,000.
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2.Police Department
The Kalispell Police camera registration project has officially been released. The system
is available through the city of Kalispell website at
https://www.kalispell.com/567/Camera-Registration-Service. Camera registration started
almost immediately with participation from community members. It is important to note
there is no remote access to the camera. The registration allows detectives to see dots on
our existing GIS program with contact information for the camera owners. This allows
our detectives a more efficient mechanism to contact camera owners asking for help. The
mapping will only be available to law enforcement.
Several KPD officers are participating in a drug interdiction course sponsored by the
Montana Highway Patrol in Kalispell. The Course is occurring February 26, 27 and 28. It
will assist patrol officers in developing and refining skills for successful drug
investigations based on proactive patrol work.
Year to date calls for service in 2020 are 5407. This compares with 5743 in 2019, and
4948 in 2018.
Officer Dan Williams has been selected and assigned to the vacant Detective position. He
will begin the assignment on March 2.
3.Planning Department
The Kalispell City Planning Board will hold a public hearing at their March 10 meeting to
hear three application requests consisting of the following:
1.File #KCU-20-01 - A request from Owl Corporation for a conditional use permit
to allow a multi-family development as a second phase of an existing multi-family
development. The project would contain ten buildings with a total of 120 dwelling
units. The property is located on the west end of Sawyer Lane/Owl View
Subdivision near West View Estates and is located in an RA-2 (Residential
Apartment/Office) zone.
2.File #KCU-20-02 – A request from The Meridian Apartments, LLC for a
conditional use permit to allow a multi-family development with four buildings
and a clubhouse, with a total of 144 dwelling units. The property is located at 41
Meridian Court in a B-1 (Neighborhood Business) zone.
3.File #KPP-19-04– A request from Eagle Valley Ranch Apartments, LLC and
Stillwater Corporation for major subdivision approval of Kalispell North Town
Center, Phases 3 and 4. The subdivision is located within Kalispell North Town
Center (previously known as The Glacier Town Center PUD) and is generally
located east of Kalispell Ford, east of the Kalispell Armory, west of Jefferson
Boulevard and north of Lincoln Street. Overall, Kalispell North Town Center is
485.5 acres and includes four zoning designations of R-3 (single-family
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residential), R-4 (two-family residential), B-1 (neighborhood business), and B-2
(general business). The subdivision request encompasses a portion of the
commercial component of the PUD. Phases 3 and 4 total 39.3-acres and include a
total of 26 commercial lots (23 in Phase 3 and 3 in Phase 4), common area, and
new city street. The lots range in size from .57 acres to 3.23 acres. The new city
street will be constructed to city standards. The application was reviewed in
accordance with Section 28.2.06 of the Kalispell Subdivision Regulations.
The Planning Board will forward recommendations for the three requests to the Kalispell
City Council for their consideration at their April 6 meeting.
The Planning Board will also be holding a work session on a proposed PUD development
located at 430 Stillwater Road. The subject property is situated at the intersection of
Stillwater Road and Four Mile Drive, and was part of the now expired Starling PUD
covering Section 35. The project envisions a mixture of single-family residential and
multi-family residential uses along with a retail area intended to serve the development
and the greater area. The plan includes 93 single family lots, 192 multi-family units, and
approximately 1.77 acres of commercial/retail area, along with a clubhouse and
approximately 3.5 acres of park areas. The PUD would provide for smaller lot
sizes/widths and longer block lengths than typical standards. The work session is
intended for information purposes only to inform both the public and the planning board
about the various aspects of the project. It is not intended to be a public hearing and the
planning board will not take any formal action on the application. This is a courtesy
meeting in preparation of the formal public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, and
is an opportunity to become familiar with the project.
4.Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 2 single-family homes and 0 townhomes.
That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to
20, compared to 9 last year at this time. At the end of 2019, the building department had
issued permits for a total of 84 Multi-family units. At this time for 2020, we have not
issued any permits for Multi-family units, however there are currently two large Multi-
family projects under review; The Crossings located on Two Mile drive which would
contain 324 units on full build out and Frontier Village located at Treeline Drive which
would contain 126 units at full build out.
There was a total of 221 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 2
weeks.
Residential – 45 Plumbing - 9
Commercial – 14 Mechanical - 10
Electrical – 19 Fire - 124
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5.Community Development
On Tuesday, February 25, Community Development closed on a small business loan for
a downtown business. Another downtown business will meet with the Department next
week to discuss potential gap financing.
Flathead County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) is closing on two property
transfers from CHS, Inc. on Wednesday, February 26. Those sites are the Grain Elevator
property on West Center Street and the Agronomy Center property on 4th Avenue East
North. These property transfers are part of the relocation package allowing CHS to
construct and move to the new, consolidated location at Glacier Rail Park. The former
downtown CHS properties will be prepared for re-development.
Community Development staff is attending a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District
working group meeting with representatives from other Montana cities and the Montana
League of Cities and Towns Thursday, February 27. Attending this meeting will apprise
the City of proposed legislation being discussed that may specifically impact City
TIF/TEDD districts.
6.Parks Department
The forestry crew has completed pruning trees in Westview Estates, Moe’s Run and
Village Greens. Currently crews are working to assist public works with raising trees
along roadways where road work will be occurring this spring and summer.
Park staff continue to thin areas at Woodland Park, creating a more open feel along the
trails at the park. Staff are also working to make repairs to the fencing around the Skate
Park.
Fire Station 62 received new carpet in the office, conference room, and living quarters as
part of the approved improvements for fiscal year 2020 building maintenance funds.
Motorcycles and four wheelers have been an issue recently at Dry Bridge and Lawrence
Park off Whitefish Stage Road. The Parks Department has been working with KPD and
Public Works to help find solutions to the problem. No motorized vehicle signs and
barricades have been installed to help educate the public that these areas are not places
for this type of activity.
Kalispell Parks and Recreation is wrapping up our youth sports seasons. Kalispell
Kickers indoor soccer ended up with 69% increase in participation and Little Squirts
basketball ended up with 35% increase in participation. Kalispell Kickers will finish on
Saturday, February 29 and Little Squirts will finish on Saturday, March 7.
Our Little Dribblers Basketball program (K-2nd grade) will begin on
Saturday, March 7 at the Russell Elementary Gym. We are currently
at 183 participants.
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We have received this year’s artwork for Picnic in the Park summer
concert series. Our sponsorship information for the 2020 summer
concert series was mailed to potential sponsors this week. Along
with sponsorships, we are also working with bands to set this
summer’s line-up. Our first concert of the summer is scheduled for
Tuesday, June 23.
7.Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 159 calls for service.
In the past few months, fire department staff have in-serviced and implemented a new
diagnostic tool for our emergency medical transport and treatment of the sick and or
injured calls for service. We have recently started to use Carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO)
monitors within our service. SpCO monitors measure the amount of Carbon monoxide
(CO) found in our blood stream or red blood cells. This is used primarily for the
detection and treatment of CO poisoning but has additional benefits. This monitor which
is plug and play within our current LifePak 15 units, works in conjunction with other
monitors such as the pulse oximetry, blood pressure, and cardiac monitors already in
service. With these monitors, and the use of waveform capnography, we can evaluate the
metabolic state of a patient and how well they are exchanging O2 and CO at a cellular
level. With the use of these monitors we will be able to improve patient outcomes for
certain medical emergencies.