11-13-20 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
11/13/2020
1. Parks Department
Park staff are raising tree canopies in various parks throughout the community. Staff also
continue to prepare for the winter season by changing equipment to plow/blow snow.
KYAC staff have moved all the collected thatch from the year to the leaf compost pile to
be mulched with the cities leaves.
On November 9, Zach Heidtman began working for the city as a Parks Caretaker. Zack
has been a seasonal with the Parks Department since April. Prior to working for the City
of Kalispell, Zach attended labor and carpenter trade schools and spent five years
working in building maintenance for a condominium in Denver. Zach also worked for
HPH Mechanical for nine years as a laborer. While in Denver, he was working on a
History degree from MSU Denver. He has recently acquired a pesticide applicator license
from the Montana Department of Agriculture. Zack brings a good understanding of park
maintenance, forestry and chemical application and will be a valuable member of our
team.
Lions Park pavilion and log cabin are currently receiving new
roofs. The old roofs were cedar shakes and were well beyond
their lifespan; indicated by the numerous leaks. Plans are also
underway to remodel the interior with new stalls, lights, doors,
and fixtures this winter.
KPR’s new activity guide was published in the Daily Interlake on
Saturday, October 31. It is also available on the city website and
will be emailed to all the schools. This guide highlights our parks
facility rentals, community events, and youth programs starting in
November and running through April 2021.
Now that winter has arrived, we are looking for
ice skating instructors for our beginning ice skating programs at the
Woodland Ice Center beginning in December.
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2.Public Works
Engineering Division-Private Development Oversite
The Engineering Division is responsible for the review of private development’s
engineering design and construction to ensure compliance with the Kalispell Design and
Construction Standards. The Engineering staff’s involvement expands from the initial
development phase through the warranty period for the accepted City infrastructure.
Below is a list of the projects and their active status currently being managed by the
Engineering Division.
•IN REVIEW – Engineering plans currently being reviewed by Engineering Staff.
•CONSTRUCTION– Project currently in active construction phase.
•POST CONST – Project at substantial construction completion; remaining items
to be completed prior to city’s acceptance.
•WARRANTY - Construction completed and accepted; project within 2-year
warranty period.
# Project Status # Project Status
1 Woodland Apartments IN REVIEW 40 Town Pump #5 New Building CONSTRUCTION
2 Stillwater Bend Subdivision - Ph1 IN REVIEW 41 KNTC Apartments Phase 2 CONSTRUCTION
3 St Matts Parking Lot Repave IN REVIEW 42 Copper Mountain Coffee CONSTRUCTION
4 Owl View Landing - Phase 2 - Bldg
1 IN REVIEW 43 4th and Zuri CONSTRUCTION
5 Global Storage APPROVED 44 Sherwin Williams CONSTRUCTION
6 Flathead Industries APPROVED 45 Big Sky I.V CONSTRUCTION
7 Northland Subdivision Phase 5D APPROVED 46 Airport Road Sidewalk/Inters CONSTRUCTION
8 The Great Indoors - Silverbrook APPROVED 47 FedEx Trailer CONSTRUCTION
9 Stillwater Square Apartments APPROVED 48 Brightview Phase 3 POST CONST
10 Office Addition APPROVED 49 Grandview Drive Project POST CONST
11 Westview Estates PH 5 APPROVED 50 FVCC Addition Broussard POST CONST
12 Meridian Station Apartments APPROVED 51 Bloomstone Phase 3 POST CONST
13 Immanuel Luth Comm Cottages APPROVED 52 SunRift Beer Company POST CONST
14 Bergman Phase 1 APPROVED 53 RDO Phase 3 POST CONST
15 KNTC - Kalispell North Town Center CONSTRUCTION 54 Sterling West School POST CONST
16 Jefferson Blvd. Extension CONSTRUCTION 55 Cottage Gardens POST CONST
17 Meadow Park Unit #4 CONSTRUCTION 56 Payne West Insurance POST CONST
18 Meadows Edge Phase 1B CONSTRUCTION 57 1002 S Main St - MT Exec Off POST CONST
19 Montana Basecamp CONSTRUCTION 58 Universal Mechanical POST CONST
20 Frontier Apartments CONSTRUCTION 59 Westview Estates Phase 5 POST CONST
21 South Side Estates Phase 2 CONSTRUCTION 60 Beehive Homes WARRANTY
22 Glenwood Apartments CONSTRUCTION 61 Silverbrook/Church Dr. WARRANTY
23 Kalispell City Airport Runway CONSTRUCTION 62 KNTC Apartments Phase 2 WARRANTY
24 Green Nissan CONSTRUCTION 63 Meadows Edge Phase 1A WARRANTY
25 Green Hyundai CONSTRUCTION 64 Treeline Center WARRANTY
26 Crossings at Spring Creek CONSTRUCTION 65 The Vision Clinic WARRANTY
27 Eagle Valley Ranch CONSTRUCTION 66 Glacier Village Greens Ph 20 WARRANTY
28 Silverbrook Road Improvements CONSTRUCTION 67 Beehive Homes Phase 3 WARRANTY
29 21 Appleway Dr Edge Apartments CONSTRUCTION 68 Stampede Packing Company WARRANTY
30 W Gateway Community Center CONSTRUCTION 69 South Side Estates Phase 2 WARRANTY
31 Northland Phases 5A & 5B CONSTRUCTION 70 SD5-Airport Rd. Utilities WARRANTY
32 Maw Apartments CONSTRUCTION 71 PTA Associates WARRANTY
33 Silverbrook Estates Phase 2B-B CONSTRUCTION 72 Owl View Landing WARRANTY
34 Spring Prairie Phase IV - Old Navy CONSTRUCTION 73 Lofts at Ashley WARRANTY
35 UPS Expansion CONSTRUCTION 74 Glacier Eye Clinic Addition WARRANTY
36 Morrison-Maierle Office Building CONSTRUCTION 75 Peterson Acre Subdivision WARRANTY
37 Jaxon Ridge Subdivision CONSTRUCTION 76 Flathead Gymnastics WARRANTY
38 FVCC College Center CONSTRUCTION 77 Fidelity Title WARRANTY
39 Smith's Parking Lot CONSTRUCTION
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50/50 Sidewalk Replacement Program
The 50/50 sidewalk program is winding down for the season. The City had another
successful construction season with various curb and sidewalk projects completed
throughout the city. Projects this year included a mix of private property and City ADA
accessibility projects. This construction season to date, Sandon Construction has
completed 36 work orders that included 8.9 blocks of sidewalk and 2 ADA accessibility
improvements.
3.Police Department
Chief Overman will be participating in a statewide policy meeting with other law
enforcement leaders in Helena on November 18. The goal of the meeting is to develop a
statewide consistent use of force policy that meets new federal accreditation requirements
to receive federal funding.
Year to date calls for service are 28,216. This compares with 31,675 in 2019, and 30,330
in 2018.
Chief Overman continues to participate in “Community Conversations” on KGEZ radio
quarterly talking about various community and law enforcement issues. The latest
interview was on November 11, speaking on homelessness, winter driving, the
Co-Responder program and COVID effects on the Kalispell Police Department.
4.Information Services
IT staff is working to decommission a server that impacts many departments. The fire
department received new servers for the north fire station and the downtown station to
allow the department user profiles to be removed from the old server. A server at the
north station was also decommissioned. City IT worked through the setup and the new
servers are supporting user profiles to both stations.
Trevor Glennon has started as the new IT Support Specialist. Trevor will work out of
City Hall, along with the rest of IT.
GIS staff are working with drone imagery to benefit the in-house design projects the
public works department have every year. Before the drone imagery was available, we
used Google earth for an overview and then had to carefully survey projects to show
contractors what was around the project; power poles, fences, trees, sidewalks, etc. With
the drone, we can use the high-quality imagery to fill in much of the background data
needed and provide clear reference in the field to where things exist. This is likely to save
a significant amount of time both surveying and inputing the data into CAD. There are
also likely benefits for the contracting community as they gain a better understanding of
what the project looks like during the bidding process if they aren’t able to visit the site in
person.
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5.Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 6 single-family homes, 10 townhomes and
2 duplexes. This brings the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the
year to 268, compared to 134 at the same time last year.
There have been 156 multi-family housing units issued so far this year. At the end of
2019, the building department had issued permits for a total of 84 multi-family units.
There was a total of 138 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 2
weeks.
Residential – 74 Plumbing – 14
Commercial – 19 Mechanical - 19
Electrical – 12 Fire - 36
6.Planning Department
The Planning Board held a work session on accessory dwelling units (ADU) at their
November 10 meeting. Staff presented a draft zoning text amendment for the board’s
discussion. The DRAFT amendment would allow a separate ADU on a lot in zones that
allow duplexes (R-4, R-5, RA-1, RA-2, and H-1) in addition to those zones which already
allow them. Following a lengthy discussion, the Board felt the amendments were
reasonable and directed staff to prepare the text amendment for their next regularly
scheduled meeting on December 8. This meeting will be a legally noticed public hearing
where the board can solicit further public comment regarding the proposed amendment.
7.Community Development
The City of Kalispell has acquired the rail line
through the Kalispell Core Area paving the way
for removal of the track to be replaced with a
linear pedestrian park and trail, spanning
approximately 1.6 miles from Meridian Road to
the bridge over Highway 2 East. Additionally, the
City has worked with Klarr Locomotive
Industries to locate and restore Great Northern
locomotive #657. The #657 has made its way
from Washington to Kalispell and will soon take the place of the current engine located
above Woodland Park.
A combined, virtual web-based hearing will be held by the City of Kalispell, Flathead
County, NeighborWorks Montana, Northwest Montana Community Land Trust, Inc.,
Samaritan House, Inc., Montana West Economic Development, and Kalispell Regional
Healthcare at 1:00 p.m., November 19. The purpose of this hearing is to obtain the views
of community residents regarding community development needs and priorities of the
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City of Kalispell and Flathead County for economic development, housing and
neighborhood revitalization, and public facilities. The CDBG program is administered by
the State of Montana Department of Commerce and will make available to eligible local
governments funding for housing, economic development, public facilities, public
infrastructure, and planning activities, with the principal purpose of benefitting
low/moderate income persons. The hearing will provide further information about the
CDBG program and will allow for citizen participation in the development of any
proposed grant applications. During the public hearing, community members will be
given the opportunity to express their opinions regarding community needs and the type
of projects that should be considered. For more information or to register for the hearing
via Zoom, please contact the City of Kalispell Development Services Department via
email CDBG@kalispell.com or phone 406-758-7738 or visit our webpage,
https://www.kalispell.com/581/Community-Development-Block-Grant.