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Whitetail Crossing Letter of Support from Frank GarnerWHITETAIL CROSSING October 30, 2024 The Honorable Mayor and Members of The Kalispell City Council City of Kalispell 201 1"Avenue East Kalispell, MT 59901 Dear Mayor and Members of the Kalispell City Council, In our May letter, we stated that subdivision review is a "process" for a reason and that as an applicant goes through the contemplation, submission, initial staff deliberations, planning commission, and city council steps, a project will hopefully only get better over time. We believe our project has embodied this result, having evolved and been greatly improved upon since the June Council meeting. Per the attached document, we have made 13 significant concessions to accommodate feedback and mitigate impacts of our project on neighbors — something that they themselves have acknowledged despite the rhetoric. Regarding traffic safety impacts, historically, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) would wait until the traffic "warrants" were significant enough that they effectively forced the infrastructure improvements. MDT's May 15, 2024 letter reflected a major departure from MDT in how it views the connections between development, local government, and the state's highway system. MDT has again submitted a letter for the pending application. Although already submitted into the record, I am attaching it for its contextual importance. MDT is willing to allow all the Tronstad Road/Silverbrook Drive intersection improvements to occur on the front side of our development. Once completed, the benefits to existing traffic patterns at this intersection will be significant, to say the least. As the Council is well aware, the opportunity to execute road improvements in tandem with building new development requires a holistic understanding of expected growth throughout the Valley. Additionally, those road improvements, for the public benefit, will also be supported with private funds, rather than taxpayer dollars. Combined, it is a unique opportunity to leverage public -private partnerships to see major public safety improvements North of Reserve in a timeframe that serves everyone. It is with this same "can do" attitude that our ownership group will continue to tackle the challenges associated with attainable housing. While critics of the project have said that market rate housing is not attainable, we know from local history and national studies that failing to address our housing inventory shortage will only intensify housing costs, despite some public opinion that believes otherwise. The Flathead Valley Housing Market Analysis dated February Is', 2023 from the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at The University of Montana stated the following: 1 South Montana Avenue, Stn, M-2, Helena, Montana 59601 (406)171-7197 �M WHITETAIL CROSSING "They <also> found that areas with more severe underproduction of housing had the fastest acceleration in housing prices. The conclusion of these and other studies on housing supply is that substantial new supply is needed to bring the trajectories ofprices and rents for housing back to earth. " "Yet this is not the conclusion ofmany ofthe players and advocates in local politics. Two nationally representative surveys of urban and suburban residents found that many residents associated increased development of housing with increasing prices and rents (Clayton, et. al, 2022). Survey responses suggested that only 30-40 percent of respondents thought that a 10 percent increase in the housing supply would lower prices and rents. " Despite the misattribution of the causes of high housing costs by a certain aspect of the public, Kalispell has been at the forefront of recognizing and addressing the housing shortage in the Flathead Valley. Thanks to the Kalispell City Council approval of nearly 1800 multifamily units in the past number of years, the Kalispell multifamily market is being impacted in a positive way. Further, the Kalispell City Council has managed to impact the median home price in the Flathead by adding additional housing inventory. The BBER study concludes that increasing housing supply helps create competition and lowers prices, but the Valley still has a long way to go. The study states that an additional supply of 1,500 homes per year must be added over the next 10 years to rebuild housing inventory and provide competitive prices in the Flathead. Single family housing must be a part of the mix. Many families need and desire two, three, and four -bedroom houses. They have children, pets, and are looking for attainable housing options to keep them in the Valley. We are also happy to announce that the ownership group has received commitment letters from homebuilders to purchase more than 85% of the lots in Phase I of the development We continue to field calls and are entertaining additional offers. Based upon this almost unprecedented level of interest, opposition arguments that there is adequate inventory in the Flathead is without merit. Lastly, we are actively researching and exploring programs that have been put in place at the state level, but we cannot technically execute against this strategy if we do not have an approved project. We adamantly disagree with project opponents' contention that there is a legal basis to deny this subdivision. The City staff report, Planning Commission record, and subsequent analysis further support a conclusion that there are no significant impacts to public safety, fire, police, health, critical wildlife habitat, and education associated with our project that have not been dealt with within the mitigating conditions of subdivision approval. Our project is not "spot zoning" by any reasonable land use planning professional's review of the facts. Moreover, the additional concessions we have made in this application (including many not required by the Montana 1 Soutn Montano A,,enoc. Ste. M-2. Hetena, Montnna 39601 (406) 4711-7197 AT�, .. IM WHITETAIL CROSSING Subdivision and Platting Act), demonstrate our desire to have a thoughtful ongoing dialogue with the neighbors as the project evolves. For all of the above reasons, the BBER Study dated February 1", 2023, and the desire of all hard- working citizens in the Flathead to have housing options, we respectfully request the Mayor and City Council to approve the Annexation, R-2 Zoning/PUD, and Preliminary Plat approval for Tronstad Meadows Subdivision and Whitetail Crossing Subdivision. Additionally, the ownership group would like to thank the Kalispell City staff for their thorough review and analysis, but more importantly their professionalism and dedication. We would also like to recognize and thank our community members who have provided insightful recommendations to make our project better. We value and honor this planning process and believe that this project is be r because of it. Regards, Frank Garner 1 Soutn Montana Avenue. Ste. M-2. Helena, Montana 59601 (406)471-7197