01-23-23 Work Session Agenda and MaterialsCITY COUNCIL
KCITY OF WORK SESSION AGENDA
ALISPELL January 23, 2023, at 7:00 p.m.
City Hall Council Chambers, 201 First Avenue East
The public can participate in person in the council chambers or via videoconferencing. Register
to join the video conference at:
hops://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/" EFX8ah5KT4u3tkIKYPGCYw.
Please see the bottom of the agenda for instructions to watch the meeting live.
A. CALL TO ORDER
B. DISCUSSION
Review of Potential Ordinances Related to Public Parks
C. PUBLIC COMMENT
Persons wishing to address the council are asked to do so at this time. Public comment
can be provided in person, verbally during the online meeting, or via email to
publi ccomm entgkali spell. com
D. CITY MANAGER, COUNCIL, AND MAYOR REPORTS
E. ADJOURNMENT
UPCOMING SCHEDULE / FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Next Regular Meeting — February 6, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. — Council Chambers
Next Work Session — February 13, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. — Council Chambers
To provide public comment live, remotely, please register for the video conference through
zoom and use the raise hand feature to indicate you would like to provide public comment. See
the top of the agenda for the zoom link.
Watch City Council sessions live or later on Charter Cable Channel 190 or online at
hops://www.kalispell.com/48O/Meeting-Videos.
The City does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its programs, services, activities, and
employment practices. Accessible parking is available at the rear entrance to City Hall off of the alley,
where there is an accessible entrance, and accessible restrooms nearby. Auxiliary aids are also available.
For questions about disability accommodations please contact the City Clerk at 406-758-7756.
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Kalispell City Council Agenda, January 23, 2023
ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
Adopted July 1, 1991
Section 2-20 Manner of Addressing Council
a. Each person not a Council member shall address the Council, at the time designated in
the agenda or as directed by the Council, by stepping to the podium or microphone,
giving that person's name and address in an audible tone of voice for the record, and
unless further time is granted by the Council, shall limit the address to the Council to
three minutes.
b. All remarks shall be addressed to the Council as a body and not to any member of the
Council or Staff.
C. No person, other than the Council and the person having the floor, shall be permitted to
enter into any discussion either directly or through a member of the Council, without the
permission of the Presiding Officer.
d. No question shall be asked of individuals except through the Presiding Officer.
PRINCIPLES FOR CIVIL DIALOGUE
Adopted by Resolution 5180 on February 5, 2007
■ We provide a safe environment where individual perspectives are respected, heard, and
acknowledged.
■ We are responsible for respectful and courteous dialogue and participation.
■ We respect diverse opinions as a means to find solutions based on common ground.
■ We encourage and value broad community participation.
■ We encourage creative approaches to engage in public participation.
■ We value informed decision -making and take personal responsibility to educate and be
educated.
■ We believe that respectful public dialogue fosters healthy community relationships,
understanding, and problem solving.
■ We acknowledge, consider and respect the natural tensions created by collaboration,
change, and transition.
■ We follow the rules & guidelines established for each meeting.
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cITYOF City of Kalispell
201 1st Ave E. P.O. Box 1997
KALISPELL Kalispell, Montana 59903-1997
(406) 758-7000 Fax (406)7757
REPORT TO: Mayor Johnson and Kalispell City Council
FROM: Doug Russell, City Manager
SUBJECT: Review of Potential Ordinances Related to Public Parks
MEETING DATE: January 23. 2023
BACKGROUND: As was brought up at the previous work session, we have started to see a
daytime encampment develop at the gazebo in Depot Park from the park's opening hours to
closing, discouraging use by the community. In this area, we have confirmed and/or cited
disorderly conduct, public alcohol consumption, public nudity, public urination, and have
received reports and photographic images of fecal matter. To address and investigate complaints,
law enforcement has spent time at the end of the park's closing to address and remove the
material that has been left behind which has included mattresses, tarps, clothes, food, and other
items.
With this situation we have a health and safety issue which includes illegal activity occurring in
daytime hours at a public park. Second, we have a situation where a group is essentially taking
control of a public space, discouraging other members of the community from using that
amenity, and generating trash accumulation that is falling on our law enforcement to clean each
night to keep our parks free from debris. These activities typically require a party to have a
special event permit, which provides exclusive access and a means to match services with the
respective use as part of the permit approval process.
In providing a process that serves the entire community, it is important to recognize and uphold
individual constitutional rights. We have reviewed potential options that we feel comply with
constitutional protections that can be implemented to provide a public space that serves the entire
community in the fashion for which the parks were intended.
Policies that have been enacted in other jurisdictions or policies that could apply here that do not
infringe upon individual rights include:
1) Unlawful placement of property outside a reservation or special event permit, and/or the
erection of structures on public grounds. These ordinances would make it unlawful to
place or receive personal property at public facilities outside of a special event or
reservation. Hence the use of public space could not include demarking an area, storing
property, or erecting a structure. I am attaching two ordinances from Whitefish that are
examples of this type of legislation.
2) An ordinance could be put into place making it unlawful to occupy the same park
amenity without a reservation or event permit for a cumulative period of time in a
calendar day. This would not require anyone to move outside of the public park but
would limit the ability to take all day possession of a single structure, such as a gazebo,
within the park (we require groups to get permits when they seek to occupy our parks'
structures. Allowing this to currently occur is providing a different level of treatment.)
These policies would provide a means to address conditions that are occurring and the related
complaints that have come in that reference use of park facilities, trash, illegal activity, etc.
These ordinances would also not infringe on constitutional rights as they are universally applied
to facilitate public usage of park facilities, and an equal treatment when use of the facilities leads
to restricted access and consumption of municipal resources. It would also not prohibit anyone
from using the parks (they just could not use one of the park facilities all day without a permit).
The sample ordinances currently in place in Whitefish are attached for discussion along with
potential wording of an ordinance for setting time limitations at a park structure.
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that council review and consider the attached
ordinances and provide appropriate direction.
ATTACHMENTS:
Whitefish Ordinance on Excessive Personal Property Interfering with the Use of Public
Property
Whitefish Ordinance on Erection of Structures on Public Grounds
Draft Kalispell Ordinance on use of Park Structure without a Permit
1/9/23, 3:34 PM https:Hexport.amIegaI.com/api/export-requests/4add6efO-b588-4363-9f34-ebca855b63c6/download/
CHAPTER 7
EXCESSIVE PERSONAL PROPERTY INTERFERING WITH THE USE OF
PUBLIC PROPERTY
SECTION:
7-7-1: Purpose
7-7-2: Definitions
7-7-3: Prohibited Conduct
7-7-4: Violation; Penalty
7-7-1: PURPOSE:
Public areas should be accessible and available to residents and the public at large for their intended uses.
The unauthorized use of public property for the storage of excessive personal property interferes with the
rights of other members of the public to use public areas for their intended purposes, including those with
accessibility issues, and can create a public health or safety hazard that adversely affects residential and
commercial areas. The purpose of this chapter is to maintain public areas in a clean, sanitary, and accessible
condition to prevent the misappropriation of public areas for personal use, and to promote the public health
and safety by ensuring that public areas remain readily accessible for their intended uses. (Ord. 20-10, 7-20-
2020)
7-7-2: DEFINITIONS:
As used in this chapter, the terms are defined as follows:
More than what a reasonable person would carry with them for the enjoyment or use
EXCESSIVE:
of the public property or an amount of property that will interfere with another's use of
public property.
Any natural person or individual, group, business, business trust, company,
PERSON:
corporation, partnership, entity, association, club, or organization composed of two or
more individuals.
PERSONAL
Any and all tangible things or property, including, without limitation, goods, materials,
PROPERTY:
products, and merchandise or food of any kind.
That portion of any public area or public areas within the City that are owned,
PUBLIC
managed, controlled, or maintained by the City, including, without limitation, any park,
PROPERTY:
parking lot, street, median strip, space, ground, building, structure, sidewalk, avenue,
highway, curb, bikeway, or any right of way or other public way in the City, improved
or unimproved.
To put aside or accumulate for use when needed, or to put for safekeeping, and/or to
STORE:
place or leave or lay away in a location for preservation or later use or disposal,
separate and apart from being carried, kept, or stored upon one's person. (Ord. 20-
10, 7-20-2020)
7-7-3: PROHIBITED CONDUCT:
It is unlawful for a person or persons to place, store, or maintain more personal property than is reasonable
for the use of the public property and in a manner that:
https://export.am legal.com/api/export-requests/4add6efO-b588-4363-9f34-ebca855b63c6/download/ 1 /2
1/9/23, 3:34 PM https://export.amlega1.com/api/export-requests/4add6efO-b588-4363-9f34-ebca855b63c6/download/
A. Deprives another the use of the same property;
B. Creates a health or sanitation issue;
C. Creates an obstruction; or
D. Causes a public area to be uninviting to others. (Ord. 20-10, 7-20-2020)
7-7-4: VIOLATION; PENALTY:
Any violation of the restrictions set forth in this section may be punished as a misdemeanor as provided in
section 1-4-1 of this code. Any such violation may also be treated as a municipal infraction, and the person
violating the restrictions set forth in this section may be assessed a civil penalty as provided in section 1-4-4
of this code. For each separate incident, the City will elect to treat the violation as a misdemeanor or a
municipal infraction, but not both. If a violation is repeated, the City may treat the initial violation as a
misdemeanor and the repeat violation as a municipal infraction, or vice versa. (Ord. 20-10, 7-20-2020)
https://export.amlegal.com/api/export-requests/4add6efO-b588-4363-9f34-ebca855b63c6/download/ 2/2
1/9/23, 3:39 PM hftps:Hexport.amlegal.com/api/export-requests/7eaa3f99-5cO9-4780-9ced-c6l7a1762eOe/download/
7-3-11: ERECTION OF STRUCTURES:
No person shall, in any park or other public grounds, erect, maintain, use or occupy any tent, lodge,
shelter, structure or unattended installation or display. The following are exempt from this prohibition:
a) City structures and installations; and b) other installations or displays authorized in conjunction with
a special event when a permit has been issued by the City. (Ord. 19-05, 2-4-2019)
https://export.amlegal.com/api/export-requests/7eaa3f99-5c09-4780-9ced-c617a1762eOe/download/ 1/1
ORDINANCE NO. XXXX
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 19-20 OF THE KALISPELL CITY CODE
SETTING FORTH THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF PARK STRUCTURES,
DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ATTORNEY
TO CODIFY THE SAME.
WHEREAS, public areas should be accessible and usable by residents and the public at large;
and
WHEREAS, a cumulative 90 minute time limit on use of City park structures when a permit is
not in place reduces the likelihood of criminal activity with the structures; and
WHEREAS, a cumulative 90 minute time limit on use of City park structures when a permit is
not in place encourages equitable use of City park structures by all members of the
public; and
WHEREAS, in the best interests of the public to keep City park structures available for equitable
daytime use.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
KALISPELL AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 19-20 of the Kalispell City Code shall be and is hereby
amended by adding the following paragraphs:
E. Park Structures: Use of any and all City park structures by any
person be limited in time to no more than 90 cumulative minutes of
use within one calendar day. Any use exceeding 90 cumulative
minutes within a calendar day requires that the user acquire a permit.
SECTION 2. Section 19-20 (E) and (F) shall be re -lettered to (F) and (G)
accordingly.
SECTION 3. The City Attorney is hereby authorized and directed to recodify this
Ordinance.
SECTION 4. This Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after its final
passage.
PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND SIGNED BY THE MAYOR OF
THE CITY OF KALISPELL THIS DAY OF , 2023.
Mark Johnson
Mayor
ATTEST:
Aimee Brunckhorst, CMC
City Clerk