Loading...
08-03-89 Parks Comm Minutest- c A PARKS/PUBLIC LANDS/ANNEXATION/BUILDING REGULATION COMMITTEE MEETING August 3, 1989 8:00 A.M. Present at the meeting were Councilmen Furlong, Atkinson, Nystul; City Attorney Neier, Parks Director Baker, Building Official Craig Kerzman, City Clerk -Treasurer Don Halver, Surveyor Fred Zavodny, Ed Gallagher, Ross Plambeck, and David Greer. WEST SIDE HISTORICAL DISTRICT Chairman Furlong introduced Carlene Kohr, who represents the West Side Historical District. Ms. Kohr explained that in the 1980's a survey was done by the Dept. of Interior on every building in Kalispell, in the process of doing the survey they identify the first possibility for a historic district. That identification is on the west side, which is actually where Kalispell started. She stated the 7-block area is a real pressure area, between Flathead High School and the Flathead County Courthouse. The residents in this area have signed a petition favoring the formation of the historical district and also to express their concerns as to future developments such as parking lots and senior citizen units which intrude on the district. She stated of the 30-35 residents she contacted, they were all for it and Bill Cooper from School Dist. #5 is also supportive of it. Ed Gallagher reported the City shared the cost of the historic survey. Ross Plambeck said the survey was conducted by Bruce Lutz, 5,000 structures were evaluated in order to implement a federal funding program. He said the process is to do an analysis, submit it to the Historical Society, a board would review that at state level, then they would make a recommendation to the National Park Service of the Dept. of Interior, who is the keeper of the Historical Register. C. Atkinson asked if this would restrict the capabilities to make changes such as putting in a parking lot? Ms. Kohr said anything that would be done to unpreserve the district, would not be appropriate. Ross said only if there is federal funds. Ms. Kohr stated she would like to see the City support this district and not think about building a parking lot or senior citizen structures that require federal funds. Ed Gallagher stated Bill Cooper had asked if there is an area close by FHS that is not in that particular district would the Historical District support the City coming in making off-street parking for the school? Ms. Kohr said yes, everyone in the neighborhood feels there is an absolute necessity for a parking lot, if it is not infringing. MOTION: C. Atkinson moved that the Committee give a recommendation to the City Council that we support the West Side Historical District. 41 C. Nystul seconded. The motion passed unanimously. WEST VALLEY FIRE DEPARTMENT Since no representative from WVFD appeared, it was moved to the bottom of the agenda. -1- TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH Bruce Johnson, President of the church congregation, requested relief from the action of the BOA in refusing to grant a variance to erect an 8' illuminated cross on top of the new structure on 5th and California, adjoining Trinity Lutheran School. He stated the church needed to be more conspicuous, and a cross is an integral part of a Christian Church. Mr. Johnson said there was a 3-2 vote by the BOA against the variance for the cross. C. A. Neier said that takes 4 votes of the BOA to allow a variance, and if it is less than that it can be appealed to the City Council, and it takes a 3/4 vote for approval. Marilyn Ludwig, a member of the church, spoke in favor of the cross. Darold Reiner, Administrative Pastor, said a church is not complete without a cross. Bruce Johnson asked why they were denied a variance when Norwest Bank was allowed to erect an 85' flagpole. C. Furlong stated there was no 35' requirement in the area where the flagpole was erected. Dr. M. E. K. Johnson, a member of the BOA, stated the addition of an 8' cross would represent a hardship in excess of building height restriction. He stated the problem here is not whether a church can have a cross, it's whether or not the church qualifies for hardship relief from a City ordinance. If the City grants relief, is the . original City Ordinance valid? He felt that if the cross is allowed, we are setting a precedent and any organization can lean on that precedent and obtain relief for most any kind of structure that exceeds the height restriction. There was a discussion of the zoning (R-3) and the 35' height restric- tion. C. Atkinson asked what the objection to the height was, is it because of the fire codes? Building Official Kerzman advised it was because of openness. He said he doesn't believe the applicant has shown a hardship. MOTION: C. Atkinson moved that the Committee recommend to the City Council the granting of an additional variance of 10' in height for the Trinity Lutheran Church. C. Furlong said the request was for 8'. C. Nystul said he would second the motion only for the original 8' lighted cross. MOTION: C. Atkinson moved that the Committee recommend to the City Council an additional variance of 8' in height for the Trinity Lutheran Church for the express purpose of erecting a lighted cross. C. Nystul stated that he wants the Council to be aware that we are not setting a precedent because we have a duty to preserve the height limitations in a residential zone, but there are in some cases justification for small deviations from that. C. Neier asked if there were any opponents at the public hearing? C. Furlong said • no. C. Atkinson agreed with C. Nystul on not setting a precedent, but that not having a cross on a Christian Church is in fact a hardship, and he felt the cross would be set back far enough that it would not -2- impair vision by anyone in the neighborhood, and he felt very firm about granting this additional variance. Dr. Johnson stated that other church elements in this area in the future would need consideration too. David Greer said an alternative is that the Kalispell Zoning Ordinance could be amended to allow a height exemption for churches. C. Furlong stated that he is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and he would probably have a conflict of interest, but unless he was challenged he would vote. Upon a vote the motion passed unanimously. PARKS DIRECTOR REPORT Mike Baker explained some items he has requested in his budget. Some of the items discussed were replacing sod on Griffin Field, replacement or repair of the mowing tractor, and replacing the flatbed truck. The need for a pool blanket was discussed, Baker said it would reduce the gas bill by 2/3. There was a lengthy discussion on other supplies. GRANT UPDATE - LAWRENCE PARK Baker said he had met with Mike Burr from KGA regarding developing a topographical map of Lawrence Park so they can get an accurate site design. The Friends of Lawrence Park would like to see actual pictures of the prospective area that will be consumed by the golf • course. C. Furlong asked how that would involve the grant? Baker said that when they call for design specifications for the grant we'll want to see what is involved with the golf course in conjunction with reclaiming the hillside and road relocation. He said the grant would be effective next July 1. C. Furlong asked when the Council would see a plan, Baker said 6-8 months down the road. SOCCER UPDATE Baker stated they have the fields staked and they are being broken up. He said he is meeting with the Soccer people and Equity about irrigation. He said he didn't foresee us putting up a chainlink ball fence for quite some time unless somebody comes forth with a gift or donation. C. Furlong said he opposes putting up a fence that serves no purpose at the Soccer Field, and the drift fence does not provide safety. He said he would oppose the City putting any money into a fence. There was more discussion on the need for a fence. Baker said he felt the airport should be fenced entirely. DEPOT PARK Baker presented site plans for Depot Park, for development including a fountain, formal garden area and an art reviewing area. There was some discussion on this. The money will come out of TIF funds. C. Nystul was not in favor of the fountain. He mentioned putting in a . sign in recogniton of Burlington Northern'scontribution to the develop- ment and asked if that was anywhere in the plans. Baker said no, but it could be incorporated into the plans somewhere. -3- • TOM SANDS - GOLF COURSE PROPERTY City Attorney Neier explained that when we were negotiating the golf course lease Surveyor Fred Zavodny informed him that there was some property that is used as golf course property that does not belong to the City of Kalispell. He said it is fenced by the golf course and used by them. He explained that Tom Sands from Sands Surveying had contacted him about a month ago and told him that a piece of the property is owned by Landfall Corporation. They are interested in doing some kind of boundary adjustment so that there's no doubt that the property belongs to the City. Tom Sands explained that he was hired by Landfall to do a survey of the property. Fred Zavodny explained why the land had not been annexed into the City. The land is owned by the City but is not in the city limits. He said there's a fence there now. There is some discrepancy in the deeds of 500' east of the center of the river. Sands said he feels the best way to resolve this is for both landowners to get together and decide if we're going to use the fence for a boundary or not. He suggested we use the fence where it is today as the boundary. C. Furlong and C. Nystul suggested C. A. Neier and Fred Zavodny get together with Landfall Corp. and the KGA to resolve this and find out what concessions Landfall wanted. Tom Graff for Landfall Corp. stated that they wanted access to the golf course. He said he would like to get it resolved so it wouldn't be an impediment to the process of annexation. C. A. Neier and Fred Zavodny will set up a meeting with Landfall and . the KGA. ANNEXATION OF COUNTY ROADS David Greer explained that the County Road Dept. had contacted him shortly after the annexations of wholly surrounded lands to the City of Kalispell had taken place and thought that it would be appropriate at this time to resolve the streets that were a party to those annexations and clear up any miscellaneous streets that they are currently maintaining within or approximate to the city limits of Kalispell. He presented a list of the streets and said he thought it would be good if Fred or someone identify if they are streets of contention and where the boundaries were. He said we need to get a discussion going with the County to make sure that we're all talking about the same street segments and later on to decide what process we should use if the City wants to annex them. There was a discussion of what segments are now in the City. The committee directed the staff to work with the county to identify what segments are now within the city limits, and work up a recommen- dation to present to the Committee and City Council. Fred Zavodny stated it would take about 45 days to do this right, because of the busy schedule at this time. • PROPOSED AMENDMENT FOR DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT Ed Gallager explained that he had been approached by School District #5 with the possibility of expanding the Redevelopment Area to include -4- • the high school section. They are in dire need of a parking lot. Gallagher explained what all would be involved in preparing for the expansion such as a resolution of intent, etc. He requested the committee give approval of this expansion. C. Nystul stated he is not enthusiastic about this but will agree that the committee recommend to the Council to give the go ahead. He suggested a parking permit system such as the University of Montana has be implemented. C. Furlong stated the citizens around there need relief from the parking impact but the streets are public and anybody can park on them. MOTION: C. Nystul moved the Committee recommend to the City Council expansion of the TIF District. C. Furlong seconded. Ross Plambeck reported he is doing a door-to-door evaluation in that area. He said there has been an inventory done of where the cars park characteristically to utilize the best place for a parking lot, and if they can acquire enough land there will be a 90% reduction of on -street parking. There was more discussion on the parking problems •MERIDIAN ADDITION David Greer explained that the Planning Board concluded that the only practical way to zone Meridian Addition is to zone it Residential, R-4, and this way they could take advantage of a zone that they know for certain exists and they also get to take advantage of the revised writing of the Kalispell Zoning Ordinance that pertains to non- conforming uses. He reported that the Council needs to hold a public hearing on this. It was decided the public hearing should be September 5. MOTION: C. Nystul moved the Committee recommend to the Council that they hold a public hearing on September 5th to zone the Meridian Addition Residential, R-4. C. Furlong seconded. C. Nystul requested David Greer make a historical report at the meeting prior to the public hearing. Meeting adjourned at 10:35 A.M. Shirley Hughes Recording Secretary -5-