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06/24/02 DI/Public Hearing on Mall4ONDAY 11 ;h 82 4 ,ETE R1B 10 SPORTS: Wimbledon begins today ..�.... z •... � tom- - ;` ublic hearing on Mall,-,_i. LIAM L. SPENCE ily Inter Lake atest in a series of public ,,s on a proposed regional Evergreen will be held before the Kalispell City 1. council will take public com- n Wolford Development's t for a master plan amend - allow commercial and resi- uses on 247 acres located ie intersection of LaSalle end East Reserve Drive. area is currently designated ht industrial, commercial, atial and agricultural uses. eloper James "Bucky" -d wants to build a $100 mil - 9 lion enclosed shopping mall on the property, together with an adjacent 350,000-square-foot retail center and related commercial, retail and resi- dential projects. "'He's been pursuing that goal since 1999. "If I had three years of my life and my money back, I might recon- sider going forward with this," Wolford joked during a telephone interview from his Chattanooga, Tenn., office on Tuesday. "But I'm persistent," he said. "With options and all, I've probabl got $600,000 in this. I'm at the point now where I have to develop. With that much invested, I can't just walk away." Wolford said he believes he has a green light to move forward with the project. The proposed mall site t is currently in Flathead County, and the commissioners have g already approved the necessary master plan amendment and zone li change. e However, he wants to tie into y Kalispell's sewer system, and has requested annexation into the city. Tonight's hearing addresses the master plan amendment, the coun- a cil's first step toward bringing the 1 project into the city. b The council won't act on the amendment until July 1. Even if it's d approved, Wolford still has a num- ber of other planning hoops to jump through, including a zone change and a planned unit development agreement. If the project makes it through