Nathan Dugan - Livable Flathead - PPP CommentJudi Funk
From: Nathan Dugan <nathan@livableflathead.org>
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2026 2:28 PM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Cc: PJ Sorensen
Subject: EXTERNAL Public Participation Plan
Good afternoon,
As you consider updates to the city's public participation plan this evening, I wanted to share what we're
working on at Livable Flathead, as well as some suggestions that would help to facilitate that work, if they
haven't already been covered.
We are building a data dashboard on Tableau Public that will trackvarious housing metrics across
Flathead County cities. This dashboard will provide real-time data to the public and policymakers to
better inform zoning decisions. We are particularly interested in tracking "missing middle" housing
construction to ensure that zoning aimed at increasing these types of housing is sufficient to allow the
market to build them.
Our dashboard will be similar to this dashboard that the City of Bend, OR,
maintains: https://housingdata.bendoregon.gov/.
My goal is to update this monthly, which is more frequently than our cities typically update this type of
data. To do this, we will need access to this data. Because of this, we request that the public
participation plan include considerations to allow access to this data so that community organizations
can utilize it.
We request that the city publish the following information on its planning website at least monthly:
• Issued residential building permits with approved plans (comprehensive, indicating that a unit is
under construction). Note: I see that this information is available here and appears to be updated
relatively frequently, however, I cannot locate the approved plans for more specific project
details.
o The ability to filter for only residential uses (an Excel spreadsheet rather than a PDF) and
basic details like square footage, unit configuration (i.e., stacked duplex versus side -by -
side), and lot area would be useful for our dashboard and would eliminate the need to view
approved plans.
• Issued residential Certificates of Occupancy (indicating that construction has been completed
and a unit produced). I was not able to locate this data either.
If the city wanted to create a similar dashboard on its own, we think that would be great as well. We
wouldn't need to duplicate the city's effort in that case, instead, we would focus our dashboard on other
cities while redirecting users to Kalispell's own dashboard. Thankyou foryour consideration of adding
these few items to the city's online planning portal.
Nathan Dugan Executive Director
Livable Flathead
(406) 209-8428 1 nathanCa)livableflathead.org
Livable Flathead works to directgrowth in the Flathead Valley proactively, using evidence -based policies
to foster economic opportunities, interconnected transportation, and abundant housing options for all.
livableflathead.or