2. Dr. Abbott Zoning AppealCity of Kalispell
Charles A. Harball Office of City Attorney
City Attorney 312 First Avenue East
P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, MT 59903-1997
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayer Pamela B. Kennedy
and Kalispell City Council
FROM: Charles Ha ball, City Attomey
James H. Patrick, City Manager
Tel 406.758.7708
Fax 4.78.77 1
SUBJECT* Proposal by Daniel Abbott to Purchase Easement from
the City on the Buffalo Hills Golf Course
MEETING DATE* Monday, May 22 2006 — Work Session
BACKGROUND: Der, Daniel Abbott owns a home on Juniper Bend d adjacent to the
Buffalo Hills Gold' Course. Last year he constructed an addition on to his home that
encroaches upon the 20-Foot setback requirement from the city owned golf course.
He also failed to obtain the necessary building permits for the construction. He has
been cited by the City for these violations and has been summoned into Municipal
Court. Mr. Abott' atto .ey, Williams.. Astle requesting that the City consider
selling an easement to his client to correct the encroachment violation. I have
attached the request to this memo.
RECo NDA ON: It is appropriate that Dr. Abbott have the opportunity to
make this offer to the City Council. It is the opinion of the City staff that the City
Council should be properly informed about the offer and to fully consider it.
However, it is the recommendation of the City staff that the offer be rejected for the
reason that the establishment of such a policy is not in the best interests of the
Citizens of Kalispell. This rationale will be more fully discussed at the workshop.
F SCA11, EFFECTS: None at this time.
Respectfully submitted,
:.
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=.... �;. al fit AttorneyJa e H. atick Cit Manager
Charley fta
ASTLE LAW FIRM
705 MAIN STREET
W I Lt,.,. I A M. ASTLE
ATTORNEY AND COUNSEL -OR AT LAW
April 26, 2406
James H. Patrick, City Manager
City of Kalispell
P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, MT 59903-1997
TELEPHONE (40 ) -739
FAX (406) 5 43 8
Re: Daniel Abbott/City of Kalispell/Zoning Set Back Easement
Dear Mr. Patrick:
This letter is written to you pursuant to the conference 1 had with you, City
Attorney, Charles Harball, and City Planning Director, Tom Jentz, regarding the
proposed purchase of an easement by my client from the City of Kalispell for the
purpose of satisfying the Kalispell zoning set back requirement.
As discussed in the conference with you, I represent Daniel Abbott, who owns
property contiguous to the City owned Golf Course property.
As a result of my client constructing a second floor on the existing free-
standing garage on his property, that under the City Zoning Regulations such a
residential addition to the garage increased the existing five (5) foot set back area
from the contiguous City owned properly an additional fifteen (15) feet for a total
required set back area of twenty (20) feet.
My client is, therefore, proposing to purchase from the City a fifteen (15) foot
Easement on the contiguous City owned Golf Course property to satisfy the twenty
(20) foot set back for the garage/residential structure.
Please find enclosed copies of the following:
1) Survey of the proposed Easement area prepared by Marquardt &
Marquardt Surveying; and,
2) Appraisal of the proposed Easement area submitted by Appraiser,
Dave Heine.
James H. Patrick, City Manager
City of Kalispell
April 26, 2006
Page 2
Although the appraisal by Dave Heine is full fair market value for the fee
simple purchase of the land from the City; nonetheless, an easement is legally
sufficient to satisfy the set back requirement and my client is offering to pay the City
the full fair market fee simple appraisal value of $3,600.00, as established by
Appraiser, Dave Heine.
The Easement Agreement would recognize that the City retains ownership of
the subject property with the express right/authority reserved to the City under the
Easement to continue the use of the property as recreational/golf course usage with
the only limitation under the Easement being that no structures can be erected in the
Easement area.
As I further indicated in our conference, I have discussed this Easement
request with Mike Baker, Kalispell Parks and Recreation Director, who indicated his
general support for This request for the reason that such an easement would not
effect the present or future recreational use of this City owned property.
As I discussed with you in our conference, 1 learned from Mr. Baker of the
City's long term historical ineresfi in securing a pedestrian access near the southeast
boundary of the Lawrence Park property, Accordingly, in an attempt to negotiate a
possible exchange for a pedestrian access easement to Lawrence Park, I contacted
the owner of property contiguous to the southeast boundary of Lawrence Park.
However, as I indicated to you, although I think such an easement to
Lawrence Park is presently feas i ble/negoti able with the owner in question, ( am
convinced that it would be in the best interest of the City to negotiate directly with this
property owner and consider utilizing the proceeds of this ,proposed Easement
Agreement with my client as seed money in acquiring a pedestrian access to
Lawrence Park as outlined hereinabove.
As was indicated by you in our meeting, the ultimate decision on this matter
rests with the Ka I is pel I City Council; and, of course, any decision by the Kalispell C ity
Council will involve the recommendation of the City Staff; and, with that in mind, I am
soliciting the favorable support of the City Staff in this matter, and toward that end,
I am prepared to further meet with you and the Staff at your convenience.
James H. Patrick, City Manager
City of Kalispell
April 26, 2006
Page 3
Lastly, it is respectfully requested that, prior to scheduling this matter before
the Kalispell City Council, either at a workshop session or a regularly scheduled
meeting, that you provide me the courtesy of reviewing any prospective date/dates
prior to actually scheduling same, so that my client and I can, in tum, adjust our work
schedules to attend any City Council meeting regarding this matter.
In the months of May and June, 2006, my client and I are available on the
following Mondays, May 22, Jane 5, June 12, and June 19.
Thanking you in advance for your continued cooperation, 1 remain,
Very truly yours,
WEA/[co
Enc: as stated
cc: Charles Harball, City Attorney
...............
344 south Main Street K fi 11# MT 1 Phone (406) 756-8300
January 4, 26
William E. Astle
Astla Law Firm
5 Main Street
Kalispell, NIT 59901
Dear Mr. Astl ,
In accordance to your request, we have prepared and now present a brief summary of our
analysis of the 406 square foot subject property that is owned by the city of Kalispell at the
Buffalo Hills Golf Course.
It is our understanding that the purpose of our analysis is to estimate a likely market value
of the property for negotiating the purchase of this 406 square feet, by Mr. Abbott.
This parcel is unique as it is an inh lding that is fenced separate from Mr. Abbott's
adjacent ownership. We are assuming that this 406 square feet, for all intensive purposes
and analysis purposes, would be part of the larger parcel which would be Mr. Abbott's
adjacent residential ownership that fronts an the golf course. We used sales of residential
lots with frontage an golf courses or in golf communities to estimatethe likely value of the
residential hom site+ We than converted this into a value per square foot and applied this
to the 406 square feet of the subject property.
As of January 4, 2006, we estimate the lily market value of the 406 square feet of the
subject property to b $3,600. We respectfully refer you to the attached summary, ary, salient
points and conclusions and the attached reap of the subject property, along with some
supportive market data.
Respectfully,
David J. Heine, M.A., ARA
Accredited Rural Appraiser
MT Certified General Appraiser - #149
Broker
Travis Peters n
Licensed Appraiser