04/15/97 Harrison/Land Surrounding the AirportTo: Larry Gallagher
From: Diana Harrison
Subject: Land Surrounding the City Airport
Date: April 15, 1997
Last week Doug Nash who is representing Mr. Ron Trippet came into the office with
questions about building on a parcel of land that is adjacent to the city airport. Although the
property is outside of the city limits of Kalispell, it falls under the Kalispell building permit
jurisdiction. Mr. Nash had questions about setbacks and height restrictions, and I was not sure
of how to answer him.
At the present time, we have no way of regulating building in and around the airport other
than the Kalispell Zoning Ordinance and the Flathead County Zoning Ordinance. The zoning
ordinance's do not take into account height limitations or setbacks that the airport may
require. When the Kalispell City Airport/Athletic Complex Redevelopment Plan Analysis and
the Kalispell City Airport Neighborhood Plans were done, it was with the intent to upgrade
this airport to 13-1 standards. Al of the cost estimates and the land acquisition estimates were
based on 13-1 standards.
In the meantime, the Airport Advisory Committee was pursuing a B- I I standard airport. I
believe that they were told by the FAA that they would have a better chance of getting funding
from them if it was built to a B- I I standard. A B- I I airport will most likely require additional
land purchases and it will have a greater impact on surrounding parcels of land.
I realize that everything is now "on hold" until the airport plan is completed, but I thought you
and the council should be aware of what is happening. We cannot deny this person a building
permit, but the building will most likely be within the object free area of a B- I I standard
airport. This means that if the city needs to buy this property to achieve a B- I I airport, it will
now have extensive improvements to it, making it more costly.
I also understand that there has been discussion by the council to possibly not pursue the city
airport. I think that this is something that the city council needs to discuss and give staff
direction on how to handle questions from property owners near the airport and from the
general public.