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08/12/01 DI/Mall Proposal Faces First HurdleMall proposal faces first hurdle Planning board- holds Tuesday hearing on Glacier Mall project By WILLIAM L. SPENCE The Daily Inter Lake The first civic hurdle for a proposed 750,000-square-foot mall in Evergreen comes this week, with a public hear- ing on Wolford Development's request to amend the Kalispell City -County Master Plan. The Chattanooga, Tenn., firm wants to build the fully enclosed shopping center, dubbed Glacier Mall, on 144 acres just northeast of the intersec- tion of U.S. 2 and East Reserve Drive, Owner James "Bucky" Wolford said the $100 million project would house four major department stores, each with more than 100,000 square feet of space, as well as 90 to 100 specialty shops, a food court with seating for 510 people, and a movie theater. The Kalispell master plan currently designates the proposed site as a mix of commercial, light industrial and agricultural uses. County zoning on the property includes B-2 general business, I-1H light industrial, SAG-10 suburban agricultural and R-1 resi- dential. Wolford wants general business zoning for the whole property. To get that, the master plan must first be amended to designate the entire site for commercial use. The Kalispell City -County Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the amendment request on Tuesday in the Kalispell City Council chamber. The proposal was originally sched- uled for the board's September meet- ing, but was pulled up a month (see related story). A special board meet- ing has also been called for Aug. 21, to address a follow-up request for the general business zoning change. Approval recommended for master -plan changes Tuesday's board meeting starts at 7 p.m. However, Wolford's project is scheduled near the end of a lengthy agenda, so it isn't clear when the pub- lic hearing will begin. The Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office is recommending approval of the master plan amend- ment. Director Forrest Sanderson said the primary reason is because a majority of the proposed mall location is already planned for comparable or higher intensity uses. A basic assumption in land -use planning, he explained, is that land uses range from low -intensity agricul- tural to high -intensity industrial. On the WoNord site, "71 of 144_acres are currently zoned B-2 or I-1H," Sanderson said. "And in terms of the master plan, there's another roughly 30 acres where industrial uses could be expanded in the future." Consequently, he said, "it isn't unreasonable to conclude" that more than two-thirds of the property already matches what Wolford is proposing. Trading a higher -intensity use on 44 acres for a lower- or comparable - intensity use on 100 acres seems to make sense, Sanderson said — hence the favorable recommendation. The biggest concerns about the pro- posed mall, he said, are its impact on downtown Kalispell, the increase in traffic associated, and how sewer and water service will be handled. Developer says mall could lure shoppers from far away During an interview last week, Wol- ford said Glacier Mall would do little harm to the independent retail shops on Main Street in Kalispell. "I don't think this project will affect them at all," he said. "Most of them are very specialized — they aren't mall -type stores." With Glacier Mall pulling shoppers in from a 100- to 150-mile radius, Wol- ford said, there will likely be some "spillage" onto Main Street, with busi- nesses there benefiting from the over- all increase in retail traffic. As for the Kalispell Center Mall, he said, it undoubtedly will suffer from the competition — but its future is dis- mal no matter what happens with his project. THIS ARTIST'S sketch shows the entrance to the proposed Glacier Mall. Q M O O J O N O C LO a co R � C O J � C O O y C M "O N o. L > O0 • L U) ry- ++ U 6, CE5 - W (� -0 O N O Q :� O L C �O O U U O 0- O O Y•� fi U) N Q) -5 O i C;) O C_ C (D "O - (Z Cz C) E 'C3 a O O L CO O 0 U � C Q.O LL C J O C) E � O Y �— U6S m O _ O _ w U) a) wL Q a :)(n "Depa, ' ent stores don't want to be there," cord said of the Center Street location. "The site is very limit- ed; it's only 20 acres. My site, just for the mall, is 84 acres. We've provided expansion room for the department stores, so I can accommodate their growth needs for the next 40 years." Put another way, he said, Glacier Mall would close the door to any addi- tional shopping mall development in the Flathead for several decades. "I think that's proper planning," he said, because it would help eliminate sprawl and focus retail development in one central location. Before starting his own firm three years ago, Wolford was a founding partner and the second-largest share- holder in CBL & Associates Proper- ties, a $500 million real estate invest- ment trust that has an ownership interest in 28 enclosed regional malls, 14 strip malls and 82 community and neighborhood shopping centers. "I've developed more than 22 mil- lion square feet of retail," he said. "That's been my business for 25 years." After investigating several potential mall sites around the valley, the Ever- green property was chosen because it offers adequate room for expansion and peripheral development, it's cen- trally located along a major highway, it's well -positioned to capture the attention of tourists heading to Glacier National Park, and it's able to be served by municipal sewer and water. Sewer service still a question mark for Glacier Mall Whether it will connect to Kalispell's infrastructure, though, remains a question. "I have more than 200 acres under my control," Wolford said. "I've optioned enough additional land that I could do my own treatment plant. The amount I would spend doing onsite sewer isn't much different than what it would cost to extend the city sewer lines. "But that's the least preferable option," he said. "From the beginning, I've said I want to be part of Kalispell." Wolford has actively pursued annexation into the city. Another alternative, based on legislation passed during the last session, would be to establish an annexation district that could delay annexation for up to 10 years. "In the interim, we would be paying See HURDLE on Page A14 Mall pf a faces board reviews city taxes," he said. "The num- bers we've looked at put our taxes in the range of $400,000 a year. So the city gets the bene- fit, in return for very little ser- vice." Whether Kalispell would lose more than that due to failed businesses in the down- town core hasn't been ana- lyzed. However, if Kalispell wants to remain the commercial cen- ter of northwest Montana — something officials here have long maintained — then "it needs a facility of this type," Wolford said. Following the planning board hearing, the master plan ,amendment must be approved by both the Flathead County Commissioners and the ,Kalispell City Council.