Tronstad Meadows/Whitetale Crossing Public Comment from Jeffrey MullerA"en%on Kalispell Mayer Mark Johnson and City Commissioners Ryan Hunter, Jessica
Dahlman, Chad Graham, Karl Gabriel, Sid Daoud, Sandy Carlson, Sam Nunnally and Jed
Fisher
This le"er is in protest of Amending the Growth Policy, annexa%on, zoning change and
preliminary plat approval for the Tronstad Meadows and Whitetail Crossing Project. Please
consider the amount of %me given for the public to respond and note the overwhelming
response. The mass majority are against these changes, and this became evident to all as the
mee%ng progressed for the next 5 hours with their tes%mony and comments. These were
passionate residents from all corners of Flathead County, not just the neighborhoods
adjacent to this Proposal. Tes%mony was heard about traffic, lack of Infrastructure, water
and sewage, developers not paying for impact fees, loss of valuable farmlands and taxes.
Some other concerns and problems facing the public fears are Fire and Emergency services,
Schools and lack of affordable housing.
I was first approached by Frank Garner about 2 weeks prior to the mee%ng when he showed
up at my home. He introduced himself, very respecUully. His comments then to me were
that he was trying to inform the neighborhood of the developer’s intent. He men%oned
working with the neighborhood and crea%ng a buffer. Frank stated that the homes would be
affordable for our police officers, teachers, etc., but the costs were not clear as they were
currently talking with local builders for the build out. When asked about townhomes or
apartments he said there wouldn’t be any, but we see them on the applica%on. He brought
up buffers to isolate the neighborhood from the development. He said the city informed the
developer that the development had to 100% complete and all Roads, Infrastructure and a
new stop light at Tronstad and 93 installed before any homes could be built.
Later we learned that most of if not all, what was told to me, and the neighbors was
unfounded not factual. We soon discovered that Frank was the developer’s salesperson to
get the public onboard and had no authority to make any decisions nor was he even aware
of the developer’s final inten%ons. The homes he said they were building, a percentage
affordable became a development consis%ng of only lots for sale with no inten%on to build
any homes. The costs of these lots along with the cost of the structure without any
landscaping is said to be in the range of 650,000.00 dollars. With the average household
Income being $63,500.00. Not many residents of Flathead County will be able to afford
them. John Sonju’s remarks in the Beacon was that these would be a"ainable homes for the
workers of the valley, a"ainable how? That will remain to be seen in the years to come.
Water is a big issue; the well water being donated to the City was first brought to our
a"en%on by Mr. Garner. This brought up a major concern with the neighborhood and its
underlying wells. Experts say the well that the developer is dona%ng to the city cannot
produce the capacity its capable of, without severely dropping the levels of water in the
surrounding neighborhoods. Furthermore, others have water rights to this well and have not
been contacted. My understanding is no tests of the water for contaminants have been
done. Does the City of Kalispell have enough good clean water to supply this Subdivision
without the usage of the well water? There must be some concern, why was a Water Tower
constructed across from Northern Pines golf course on Hwy 93? Possibly for mi%ga%ng
future an%cipated water shortages? Cleaning up the water sources already in place (PFAS)
should take priority over annexa%on and this Subdivision Proposal.
Wastewater System- Is the Treatment plant and pump system capable of handling all the
waste from this subdivision along with all the other developments that are approved?
If the annexa*on policy is to be amended there should be a new study on the service area
proposed to make sure it meets the criteria required by the Treatment Plant and service area.
The wastewater plans are developed using the following:
The City’s study service area (serving both City of Kalispell water and sewer customers and
“sewer only” customers) was evaluated for future growth trends. The Evergreen District is
considered separate from the Kalispell study service area. The study service area was
developed by reviewing current planning documentation, considering previously completed
facility plans, evaluating geographical boundaries, and discussions with City staff.
Ultimately, this resulted in using boundaries already established from the recent
planning efforts performed for the City, which include the following:
1) The 2015 Annexation Boundary was presented in the City of Kalispell Growth Policy
Plan-It 2035 document, adopted by Kalispell City Council Resolution No. 5821A, dated July
3, 2017.
2) The Kalispell Growth Policy Future Land Use Map (dated February 15, 2017) established
the “Growth Policy Planning Area” and was prepared as part of the City of Kalispell Growth
Policy Plan-It 2035. The Growth Policy Planning Area extends to a larger land area outside
the 2015 boundary and is primarily used as a means of policy coordination between the City
and Flathead County.
These boundaries establish the future growth areas and provide consistency between recent
planning efforts. The study service area boundary used for the WWFPU is the 2015
Annexation Boundary and is presented in Figure 3-1. Areas of future growth within the City
have been identified for each planning horizon. Individual maps showing anticipated growth
areas for each planning horizon can be found in Appendix B.
I sencerley hope you take all this into consideration before making these decision which
could effect the futures of all. Montana is a rare and beautiful place. The last frontier in the
lower 48. Please keep it that way as long as it’s possible.
Respectfully
Jeffrey Muller