09-13-19 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
9/13/2019
1.Parks Department
Trees along 5th Ave West, North Main Street, and 1st Ave East
North are currently being pruned by a contractor.
Devin Schmit has begun working as the new Arborist
Supervisor for the City of Kalispell. Devin is a Certified
Arborist with 8 years of arboriculture work experience.
As fall approaches, park staff will begin shutting down the irrigation systems in the outer
parks in the city.
The large playground at Woodland Park has now been completed.
A contractor is currently installing a sidewalk around the playground
that will hold the fall surfacing in place. Once fall surfacing is
installed, Park staff will install irrigation and landscaping.
Cairo’s Kids Afterschool Program numbers continue to grow each week. We are seeing
a younger demographic this year with the average age of participants at 6 years old
compared to 7 years old for the 2018-19 academic year. We have also received positive
feedback from parents regarding Kalispell Public Schools once again providing
transportation to the Afterschool Program at Elrod Elementary after discontinuing service
last year.
Kalispell Parks and Recreation will be hosting a free outdoor
showing of The Sandlot in Woodland Park on Friday, September
27. We will have free games and activities for kids, including a
free climbing wall and bounce house starting at 6pm. We will also
provide free popcorn and cotton candy for the movie, which will
start at 7:30pm. We are partnering with Park Side Credit Union,
Performance Real Estate, Mann Mortgage, and the Summit to bring
this free event to the community.
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2.Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, the building department has issued permits for 6 single-family homes
and 6 townhomes. That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse
units for the year to 103, compared to 85 last year at this time. Multi-family housing units
remain at 32 units for the year. Last year at this time, we had issued permits for 66
apartment units.
The new Sable Coffee located at 625 Treeline Rd., inside the My Place Hotel parking lot,
was issued a Certificate of Occupancy and is now open to the public. The permit was
issued for Firehouse Subs; located at 110 Hutton Ranch #103, next door to Cold Stone.
The project is valued at $100,000.
3.Planning Department
The Kalispell Planning Board held a public hearing on September 10, where they
considered a request from Mathew Vander Ark to annex a 2.4-acre parcel into the city
with an initial zoning of R-3. The board concluded the request was appropriate and
unanimously recommended approval of the project for council consideration. The council
will consider the Planning Board recommendation on October 7.
Following the public hearing, the Planning Board held a work session on the Kalispell
Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan where survey results (to date) were discussed. Staff has
created a survey regarding the proposed plan, which has garnered nearly 300 responses.
Discussion included preliminary findings of the survey results and direction moving
forward.
4.Community Development
From mid- August to mid-September, staff from Community Development and Planning
attended seven community events or presentations on the 30% design plans for the
Kalispell Trail. Over 450 community members participated in these discussions and
provided feedback.
5.Public Works
Stormwater Public Participation Project- Flathead Rain Garden Initiative (FRGI)
Kalispell’s stormwater permit requires public awareness and participation programs be
implemented to meet the goal of minimizing polluted urban discharges to state
waterbodies. Efforts to incorporate both awareness and participation into local programs
are continually being developed to meet water quality initiatives. The Flathead Rain
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Garden Initiative is a program started this year with the intent to aid in meeting our
permit requirements. FRGI is a collaborative program between by the City of Kalispell
and Flathead Conservation District. The Flathead Rain
Garden Initiative is a program designated to protect local
waterways by helping residents build rain gardens on their
property. Rain gardens are landscaped depressions that
collect, filter, and then absorb stormwater runoff and any
pollutants from rooftops, driveways, and other hard surfaces
that don’t allow water to soak-in. The first Rain Garden
Building Workshop was held on August 22nd at the Flathead
Conservation District’s new Demonstration Garden. Check
out the Flathead Rain Garden Initiative website to learn more
or attend our next workshop on September 14th!
Four Mile Drive Water Transmission Main Project
The Four Mile Drive Water Transmission Main project
was recently awarded by Council to Sandry
Construction for $2,085,590.00. This project was a top
priority project for the Upper Pressure Zone identified in
the recent Water Facility Plan Update. The project is just
under 3 miles in length and includes 18"
PVC installation by traditional methods and trenchless
installation of 24" HDPE water main. The Notice of
Award has been issued. Construction can commence as
soon as Agreements have been executed and material
submittals have been reviewed and approved.
6.Fire Department
Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 148 calls for service.
Fire department staff are assisting with pressure testing of our 11,000 linear feet of fire
hose to meet NFPA certifications and testing compliances. This requires us to load and
unload each individual fire apparatus, each carrying thousands of feet of different hose
types. Any non-compliant hose is placed out of service until repaired or replaced.
Fire department staff are preparing for this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign.