Hansz to Kukulski/Alternate Sectionr City of Kalispell Public Works Department
Post Office Box 1997, Kalispell, Montana 59903-1997 - Telephone (406)758-7720, Fax (406)758-7831
MEMORANDUM
4 March 2004
To: Chris A. Kukulski, City Manager
From: James C. Hansz, P.E., Director of Public Works/City
Subject: Request from Schwarz Engineering to Use Alterne
Schwarz Engineering has requested approval to use an alternative road cross-section for
Granrud Drive rather than the standard section approved by City Council at the time Glacier
Meadows was approved. In April last year we indicated no objections in principle to the idea and
stated this in our meeting with John Schwarz in your office last year. However, at that time we
raised several concerns to be addressed in order to sustain our position which dealt with issues of
drainage at intersections, intersection configuration at Granrud/Whitefish Stage intersection,
maintenance of the landscaped area to be created along Granrud (Kalispell Parks Department
indicated no capability to handle this maintenance), neighborhood concurrence with the changes,
and also we indicated then, and continue to believe that the proposal should be accompanied by
a detailed statement of the benefit to the City and neighbors that would be obtained by approving
the change as requested. To date and to the best of my knowledge, there has been no resolution
of these issues.
Schwarz has re -submitted the same cross-section detail but no further information on the
technical details for drainage or intersection configuration. Further, it is our current
understanding that previous assurances that neighborhood sentiments favored the request are in
question, based on discussions with the president of the Buffalo Stage association. Finally, while
the benefit to the developer is easily seen in lower construction costs, the benefit to the
neighborhood and City, particularly the added costs for maintenance of the roadside to prevent
its deteriorating into an unsightly strip of untended grasses have not been so easy to discern.
In view of the above, I believe it is no longer prudent to consider this request as a viable
option for the City with which we can agree in principle.
memo0082004.doc