12-10-96KALISPELL CITY -COUNTY PLANNING BOARD
AND ZONING COMMISSION
MINUTES OF MEETING
DECEMBER 10, 1996
CALL TO ORDER The regularly scheduled meeting of the Kalispell City -County Planning
AND ROLL CALL Board and Zoning Commission was called to order at 7:04 p.m. by
President Therese Hash. Board members present were Milt Carlson,
Robert Sanders, Jean Johnson, Joe Brenneman, Walter Bahr, Pam
Kennedy, Michael Conner, and Therese Hash. Fred Hodgeboom had an
excused absence. The Flathead Regional Development Office was
represented by Narda Wilson, Senior Planner, and Steve Kountz, Senior
Planner. There were approximately 15 people in the audience.
APPROVAL OF The minutes of the meeting of November 14, 1996 were approved as
MINUTES written on a motion by Bahr, second by Johnson. All members present
voted aye.
NELSON The next item for Board review was a proposed conservation easement
CJ CONSERVATION from Gregory and Douglas Nelson to the Montana Land Reliance to be
EASEMENT placed on approximately 25 acres of property located between the Old
Steel Bridge Road and the Flathead River.
Staff Report Wilson presented an overview of report 4FCE-96-6. The conveyance of
the conservation easement would further the goals and policies of the
Flathead County Master Plan, and staff recommended the Board
authorize the Planning Director to act on their behalf stating their full
support.
Board Discussion The Board was very supportive of the conservation easement.
Motion Carlson made the motion that the Planning Board authorize the Planning
Director to act on their behalf by stating to the Montana Land Reliance
that the conservation easement will further the goals of long-range
planning and the Board is in full support of the conveyance. Kennedy
seconded. By roll call vote, all members present voted unanimously in
favor.
President Hash announced a change in the published agenda to hold the
public hearings on the West Valley Neighborhood Plan, next. The two
(� matters overlap and were introduced together. Separate public hearing
and Board action was taken on each issue.
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WEST VALLEY Hash introduced a request to amend the Kalispell City -County Master
NEIGHBORHOOD Plan by adopting the West Valley Neighborhood Plan as an addendum
PLAN to each of these master plans. The neighborhood plan focuses on the
West Valley area in order to provide more detailed analysis and
direction in this area. The plan was prepared through a public
participation process of monthly neighborhood meetings sponsored by
the West Valley Steering Committee. The neighborhood plan area
generally covers West Valley School District #1. A map of the
neighborhood plan area is attached as Exhibit A, and a legal description
is attached as Exhibit B.
Staff Report Kountz introduced David Greer, Montana Planning Consultants, who
was hired by the County Commissioners to work with the West Valley
neighborhood in preparing a neighborhood plan.
Consultant's David Greer, Montana Planning Consultants, reviewed the background
Presentation and the planning process that began in September of 1995 for the West
Valley Neighborhood. The total land area included is 44,046 acres,
which approximately 9 square miles of that area is within the Kalispell
planning jurisdiction. The large majority of the neighborhood is within
Othe County's jurisdiction. The Flathead County Planning Board will
hold a public hearing on the plan December 11"
The public participation and involvement throughout the process was
high, and included the agricultural and timber interests. Greer gave an
overview of the results of the neighborhood meetings which entails
considerable compromise and reflects the visionary desires of the
neighborhood. He explained the performance based zoning regulations
that would rescind the West Valley Zoning District and be replaced with
the newly forged regulations. The West Side Zoning District would not
be replaced, but are proposing an overlay to recognize some
opportunities for clustering.
So, there are two separate issues to be acted on: (1) this overlay to allow
clustering in the West Side Zoning District; and (2) as part of the whole
planning area, we are recommending that a seven member advisory
committee be established. This would be a group appointed by the
County Commissioners, rather than a Community Council which is
elected by resident property owners in the area. With an advisory
committee, all interests can be represented such as the corporate timber
industry and the agriculture industry, who own large amounts of land
there, but may not live there.
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The DNRC land was left out of the neighborhood boundary. We
recognize that there is a by-pass scheduled to be built in the area, and an
interest in recreational fields in the area.
Staff Report Kountz gave a detailed presentation of staff s review of the proposed
West Valley Neighborhood Plan, as submitted in his memo to the
Planning Boards, dated December 3, 1996. Amendment to the Master
Plan must be by resolution, and a draft resolution was attached for
consideration.
The second item for Board review is a change in the zoning regulations.
The West Side Zoning District already exists and no changes are
proposed. An overlay set of regulations would be established on top of
that to (1) extend the jurisdiction of the land use committee, an advisory
committee to look at land use issues, that would make a
recommendation to the Planning Board. The second item being
changed is the clustering regulations. The West Valley overlay to the
West Side Zoning District, was evaluated in accordance with the
necessary statutory criteria as set forth in report #FZC-96-9, and based
on the findings, staff recommended six (6) changes as summarized in the
report.
A neighborhood steering committee meeting was held December 9t', to
review the proposed changes, and there were no objections.
Response to Staff David Greer responded to the staff report. With regards to the
Recommendations recommendations on the Plan, they had no problem with the policy on
weed control. However, there is a policy statement implementing the
state fire standards, and feels that would be redundant.
His comments on the zoning, the West Valley Zoning District is going
to be replaced by performance standards, which will include this cluster
provision. When we were working through the process, this was a new
concept that is different than the existing County regulations. We
worked very closely with the agricultural industry, and they agreed that
this provided the flexibility they need so they don't have to break their
farm up in chunks. It will allow them to create a one acre lot and
preserve 76% in open space. This was highly encouraged in the process.
Many of the farmers own land in both the West Side Zoning District and
the new proposed West Valley Zoning District, and they wanted
consistency between the two districts.
He referred the Board to the maps provided in the plan, and noted that
all the major utility services are located within the Kalispell City -County
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Cplanning jurisdiction. What happens is "trickle down" zoning, with 80
acre pieces, down to 40, down to 20, until what you have is 10 and 5
acre pieces without any open space. What I see is if someone proposes a
high density development, they will annex into the city to get the
services. If they choose not to do that, they would have to do a cluster,
which goes through subdivision review. At a worse case scenario, I
would envision this area in 20 years to have at least 50% permanent
open space, with this cluster provision. In the absence of that, you are
going to have zone change requests for 20 acres, 10 acres, to 5 acres, and
you won't have any open space. I think this is a visionary proposal, I
think it is going to work, and I think it is something that gives the
farmers incentives not to sell their land. I strongly disagree with the
tone of the staff report. I think it is short sighted.
As far as the recommendations proposed for the zoning, most of this is
just clarification. We agree that these changes are not significant. The
only change we would prefer is to eliminate the words "should" and
"shall", altogether, as recommended in #3 of the staff report.
What is important about this whole process is that there were a lot of
compromises made. There were some that really wanted stricter
regulations, and those who didn't want any regulations. I think we are at
a point where the community really accepts this plan and I encourage
you to adopt it as recommended.
Public Hearing Hash opened the public hearing to those in favor of amending the
Kalispell City -County Master Plan by adopting the West Valley
Neighborhood Plan.
In Favor Bill Breen, 335 Mountain Meadow Road, said that he has been involved
in this process since it started back in September 1995. It is coming
down the home stretch. I want to support the plan we came up with.
We had a very diverse group of people, many large landowners, timber
and agricultural interests, and people, like myself, who live there. We
made a lot of concessions to each other and I think we came up with a
very suitable plan. I want to focus on the clustering provision, because
there are a lot of elements in here. Clustering is one of the key elements.
If you recommend that it be removed, you are going to destroy the major
elements in the plan. It gives the farmers flexibility and provides the
open space. It is particularly important around the city that we protect
this open space, because as the city grows, it becomes real hard to
protect it. I want to emphasize that the clustering concept has been
Cgiven a great deal of thought, and it is important that it be retained as
part of the plan. I urge this Board to adopt the Plan.
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Bruce Tutdvedt, 1335 West Valley Drive, stated the agricultural
community strongly supports this unanimously. The clustering gives us
a way to get away from the 20's and 40's. It will let us have the houses
in the corner and still be able to farm and keep the rural beauty. We will
have an agricultural industry. Otherwise, we won't. It has been a good
committee, we have worked well together, and I think everyone has
voiced their concerns in a very civil manner.
No one else spoke in favor of the proposal.
Opposition The public hearing was opened to opposition. No one spoke in
opposition to the proposed plan. The public hearing was closed and the
meeting opened to Board deliberations.
Board Discussion Kountz addressed the Board and stated that he had no objections to the
changes proposed by David Greer.
The Board focused discussion on the Master Plan amendment to adopt
the West Valley Neighborhood Plan as an addendum.
Carlson commended Judy Hepper for her tremendous involvement with
bringing this plan to fruition. He went on to point out some minor errors
in the document. On page 3, the date on the quote by Bonny Ogle was
9/l/95; on page 18, 3rd line from the bottom, change "W,i 4hrRiver"
to "Stillwater River". I think the plan, as written, is a commendable job.
You can tell there is a lot of compromise in attempting to have
agriculture recognized as a major entity that requires special handling
for the future of the county, and I commend the group for what they
came up with.
Kennedy offered her support for the neighborhood plan. All the
neighbors in the area have invested a tremendous amount of time in their
neighborhood to come up with a truly comprehensive plan.
Motion Kennedy made the motion that the Kalispell City -County Planning
Board direct the President to sign resolution #KNP-96-2 and send a
favorable recommendation to the Kalispell City Council and Flathead
County Board of Commissioner that the West Valley Neighborhood
Plan be adopted as an addendum to the Kalispell City -County Master
Plan. Bahr seconded.
Kountz noted that any amendments should be attached to the resolution.
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Amended Motion Kennedy amended her motion to include amendments as follows: to
correct the typographical errors on page 3 and page 18, and on page 24,
add the residential polity "Encourage control of noxious weeds". Bahr
seconded the amended motion. On a roll call vote Bahr, Kennedy,
Sanders, Brenneman, Carlson, Johnson, Conner and Hash voted aye.
The vote was 8-0 in favor of adopting the West Valley Neighborhood
Plan as an addendum to the Kalispell City -County Master Plan.
WEST SIDE Hash introduced the related public hearing on a request to amend
ZONING DISTRICT portions of the West Side Zoning District located within the proposed
"OVERLAY" West Valley Neighborhood Plan area. Within the affected portions of
PROVISIONS the district, the existing AG-80, AG-40 and SAG-10 zoning
classifications would remain in place, and the amendments would
consist of "overlay" provisions that would also apply. The amendments
would extend the jurisdiction of the West Valley Land Use Review
Committee to the affected portions of the West Side Zoning District.
The amendments would' also extend the residential clustering provisions
of the proposed WV West Valley zoning classification to the affected
areas. The location of the affected areas is described in the attached
Exhibit E, and it generally consists of the portions of the West Side
Zoning District within West Valley School District No. 1.
C Staff Report Kountz did not have anything to add to his previous presentation of
p P
report #FZC-96-9.
Greer had nothing further to add to his previous comments. They
concur with Kountz's recommendation, but would request that the words
"should" and "shall" be eliminated from his recommendation #3.
Questions Kennedy asked why section 36 (DNRC - State owned land) was not
zoned P-l?
Kountz replied that the neighborhood proposed not to address the State
land issue. They are only looking at the West Side Zoning District
concerning the Land Use Advisory Committee and the clustering
provisions.
Greer addressed the issue. He said that DNRC wants to reexamine their
land and see what classification will work best for them, through their
own planning process.
Public Hearing Hash opened the public hearing on the amendments to the zoning
regulations to provide for an "overlay" to the West Side Zoning District.
N.
r_ In Favor Bill Breen, 335 Mountain Meadow Road, offered the same support as
his previous testimony. He added that there is an element of
predictability that is desireable in the plan. I think this is good for
landowners, for developers, the real estate industry, and this would be
another advantage we would have in specifying the clustering provisions
and performance standards that we have come up with.
No one else spoke either in favor or in opposition to the proposed
overlay provisions to the West Side Zoning District. The public hearing
was closed and the meeting opened to Board discussion.
Board Discussion The Board agreed with the recommendation to delete the word "sheukl",
and to replace pages 7-8 and Exhibits 1 and 2 as indicated in the memo
to the Board from Steve Kountz, dated December 3ra
Motion Kennedy moved to adopt report #FZC-96-9 as findings of fact, with the
changes as noted, and forward a favorable recommendation to the
Kalispell City Council and Flathead County Board of Commissioners,
for adoption of the proposed zoning regulations in establishing the West
Valley overlay to the West Side Zoning District. Conner seconded. On
CJ a roll call vote Johnson, Bahr, Conner, Kennedy, Brenneman, Sanders,
Carlson, and Hash voted aye. The motion carried unanimously in favor.
SAMARITAN A request was received to continue until the February 11, 1997 planning
HOUSE board meeting the public hearing on a request by Samaritan House, Inc.
CONDITIONAL for a conditional use permit to allow the construction of a homeless
USE PERMIT shelter in the RA-1, Low Density Residential Apartment district.
VISTA The next public hearing was introduced on a request by Jackola
CONSTRUCTION Engineering on behalf of Michael Spring for Vista Construction for
ZONE CHANGE annexation into the City of Kalispell and initial zoning from County R-
FROM COUNTY R- 4, Two -Family Residential, to City R-3, Residential. The property
4 TO CITY R-3 proposed for annexation is a 60 foot wide roadway easement directly
UPON west of Ashley Creek connecting to property south of Sunnyside Drive
ANNEXATION approximately 500 feet. The area to be annexed will be known as
Lonepine View Estates and contains approximately 9.4 acres.
Staff Report Wilson presented an overview of report #KA-96-8. The application was
reviewed in accordance with the statutory criteria and was recommended
to be zoned R-3 upon annexation into the City. The 32-lot subdivision
was designed with the City R-3 standards in mind.
Kennedy asked about the access to the subdivision being in the County.
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Wilson responded that city water and sewer lines are in Sunnyside
Drive, however, since a mutual compromise could not be reached with
the County, Sunnyside Drive will remain a county road.
Public Hearing The public hearing was opened. No one spoke either in favor or in
opposition to the proposed zoning upon annexation. The public hearing
was closed and the meeting opened to Board discussion.
Board Discussion The Board commented that this area is not contiguous to the City in any
direction, nor is there is any other City R-3 in the vicinity.
Wilson explained that the developer's intention was to create a single
family subdivision. The City R-4 is a Two Family Residential district.
It is consistent with the urban residential density and is designated in the
master plan. The developer obtained a master plan amendment to
accommodate this development.
Kennedy questioned that the subdivision will be accessed from a county
road and then it will be a city street in the subdivision.
Bahr felt it was commendable that the developer proposed a single
family development rather than have duplex lots in the area.
Motion Bahr moved to adopt report #KA-96-8 as findings of fact and forward a
favorable recommendation to the City Council for an initial zoning of R-
3 upon annexation into the City of Kalispell. Johnson seconded. On a
roll call vote, Conner, Kennedy, Sanders, Carlson, Bahr, Johnson,
Brenneman, and Hash vote aye. The motion carried 8-0.
APPLEWAY DRIVE The next agenda item was a request by the Flathead County Board of
/ TWO MILE DRIVE Commissioners for annexation of certain properties known as Appleway
CITY ZONING Drive and a portion of Two Mile Drive into the City of Kalispell and
UPON initial zoning. Various zoning districts are proposed consistent with the
ANNEXATION zoning of personal properties located north and south of the centerline of
these roadways. The properties proposed for annexation are located in
Sections 12 and 13, Township 28 North, Range 21 West, P.M.M.,
Flathead County.
Staff Report Wilson presented an overview of report #KA-96-7, which reviewed the
request in accordance with the necessary criteria. This is primarily a
housekeeping matter to bring the roadways with the City water and
sewer mains into the City with initial zoning consistent with the zoning
north and south of the roadways. Staff recommended approval.
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Public Hearing The public hearing was opened. No one spoke either in favor or in
opposition to the proposed initial zoning of the roadways. The public
hearing was closed.
Board Discussion Carlson noted that the property owners located north of Appleway
Drive, are in the County, are going to cut off and surrounded by City.
He wanted to know if those property owners had been notified?
Wilson replied that they will be completely surrounded by City and
could be annexed with no right to protest. They had not been notified of
the annexation of the roadway.
It was noted for the record, that the vicinity map attached to report #KA-
96-7, be corrected to reflect a B-2 zoning south of Highway 2 West,
rather than RA-1.
Motion Kennedy made the motion to adopt staff report #KA-96-7 as findings of
fact and recommend to City Council that the initial zoning for the
roadways to be annexed into the City be zoned consistent with the
zoning north and south of the centerline. Bahr seconded. On a roll call
vote Brenneman, Sanders, Johnson, Bahr, Kennedy, Conner, and Hash
(' voted aye. Carlson voted no. The motion carried 7-1 in favor.
KOENIG ZONE The next public hearing was introduced on a request by Lana Koenig on
CHANGE FROM behalf of Agnes O'Hare for a zone change from R-2, Single Family
COUNTY R-2 TO Residential, to B-2, General Business. The property being proposed for
COUNTY B-2 rezoning contains approximately 2.6 acres and is located south of
Highway 2 East approximately 600 feet east of the Stillwater River.
This property is in the Evergreen and Vicinity Zoning District.
Staff Report Wilson gave a presentation of report 4FZC-96-08, which reviewed the
request in accordance with the statutory criteria. Based on the findings,
staff recommended the zone change request from R-2 to B-2 be granted.
Public Hearing The public hearing was opened to those in favor of the zone change.
In Favor Lana Koenig, representing the applicant, spoke in favor.
There was no one else who spoke either in favor or in opposition. The
public hearing was closed.
-^1 Board Discussion The Board asked for clarification on the parcel of land that is located in
J the 100 year floodplain, and the piece being a split zone.
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i7i
Wilson explained that the applicant will do a boundary line adjustment
to add 2.6 acres to Tract 3, to the north., which is zoned B-2. The
remainder of the parcel will remain as the original parcel 1, zoned R-2.
Being in the floodplain does not effect the zone classification. The
parcel will not be a split zone.
Motion Bahr moved that report #FZC-96-08 be adopted as findings of fact, and
forward a favorable recommendation to the County Commissioners to
grant the zone change as requested from R-2 to B-2. On a roll call all
members present voted aye. The motion carried unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS Wilson gave an update on the South Woodland / Greenacres
Neighborhood Plan. It was approved by the City Council and is
scheduled for public hearing at the County Commissioners December
23'. The area looked at for zoning was annexed by City Council, with
the date for annexation to be July, 1997.
The Gardner Auction request was scheduled for City Council discussion
on Monday, December 16t''.
There was no other old business.
NEW BUSINESS There are no public hearings scheduled in January. The County
Commissioners will appoint Board members on December 18"'. Board
openings were discussed.
eOr-
-at-lar-ge, mtheL-flian-have-a-m-eeting- ThF- was-dem4ad-to be-
4nappr-eprtiat&,-and-A noon meeting was suggested to elect officers and
the member -at -large.
There was no other new business.
ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at
8:50 p.m.
C
Therese Fox Hash, President /]
APPROVED:
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Ontko, Recording Secretary