12-31-20 City Manager Reportm000
CITY or
KALISPELL
1. Parks Department
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
Information Memorandum
12/31 /2020
Forestry crews are working to finish tree pruning along
3rd Avenue East and Empire Estates. Once completed,
they will move to 4th Avenue East and the Northland
subdivision.
MANAGER
Park staff, in conjunction with a contractor, were able to
coordinate and remove security fencing and boards over
the glass of the original donated locomotive so that it could be removed from the site
along the CORE area trail and replaced with the new locomotive. Crews then reinstalled
the plywood and security fencing. These will remain in place until the trail is built
through this section. Crews will also be removing transient litter accumulation along the
tracks from 4th Avenue East to the Highway 2 bridge in the coming week.
Thanks to a group of volunteers assisting the Parks Department, Christmas tree pickup
will begin January 2, and continue each Saturday through January 19. Trees should be
placed in the boulevard, free of Christmas lights, ornaments, and tree stands. Trees will
be chipped into mulch for use in landscape projects later this winter/spring.
Freeze Out Camp is at full capacity for 6 of the 7 days offered. A
highlight for the kids has been the addition of field trips to the new
Kalico Art Center in downtown Kalispell. The kids made clay pinch
pots on December 22 and learned printmaking on December 29.
This will be a great resource for our school break camps (Skip Out,
Freeze Out, and Spring Break Camps) in the future.
Our Kalispell Kickers youth indoor soccer league (for 3 years old to 4th grade) begins on
Saturday, January 23, at Rankin Elementary. Similar to our indoor sports programs in the
fall, we will be following the Covid-19 policies/procedures below in accordance with the
Kalispell Public Schools athletic guidelines:
• We will limit attendance to two spectators per participant in uniform for
basketball due to COVID-19 precautions. We will have staff at a table outside the
gym entrance checking in each child and spectators prior to them entering the
gym.
• All spectators will be required to wear a mask/face covering.
• All people in attendance must wear masks unless they are physically participating
on the court.
• All spectators also must maintain six feet of social distancing except among
family units.
• We will schedule an extra 30 minutes between games to stagger entering and
exiting the facility to avoid congested or "bottleneck" areas.
2. Planning Department
The Kalispell City Planning Board will hold a public hearing at their January 12 meeting
to hear three application requests consisting of the following:
1. File #KA-20-05 — A request from Layne Massie for annexation and initial zoning
of B-2 (General Business) for property located at 2015 and 2105 Third Avenue
East, containing approximately 2.04 acres. The request is in anticipation of a
multi -family development that would require city services.
2. Files #KPP-20-06 — A request from Kalispell National Investment Co., LLC for
major preliminary plat approval for Phases 3 -6 of the Bloomstone subdivision,
with a total of 57 lots on approximately 33.73 acres of land. Phase 3 would
contain 47 single-family lots, Phase 4 would contain 4 multi -family lots with 104
dwelling units, Phase 5 would contain 3 multi -family lots with 88 dwelling units,
and Phase 6 would contain 3 multi -family lots with 126 dwelling units. The
property is located within an R-4 (Residential) zoning district with a Planned Unit
Development overlay. Prior preliminary plats for the property were approved in
2008 and 2017 and have since expired. The property is located at 1070 Treeline
Road.
3. File #KA-20-04; KPUD-20-03; and KPP-20-05 — A request from Four Mile
Farmstead, LLC for the Farmstead Planned Unit Development ("PUD"), which
includes annexation, initial zoning, and a Residential Mixed -Use PUD overlay on
approximately 110.71 acres of land abutting the south side of Four Mile Drive to
the west of Stillwater Road, along with maj or preliminary plat approval for Phase
1 of the development. Approximately 0.91 acres was previously annexed into the
city and zoned R-2 (Residential). The remaining area is proposed to be annexed
with the entire property to be zoned R-3 (Residential) with the PUD overlay, with
the exception of approximately 8.46 acres to be retained by the current owner in
the northeast corner that will be zoned B-1 (Neighborhood Business) with a
placeholder PUD overlay. The PUD calls for a total of 391 dwelling units (173
single family lots and 178 townhome lots) along with 1.47 acres of residential
mixed use with 40 multi -family units. The Phase 1 preliminary plat consists of
approximately 37.03 acres with 109 lots, streets, and open space, including the
8.46 acres to be retained by the current owner.
The Planning Board will forward their recommendation of the applications onto the
Council for their consideration at the February 1 meeting.
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3. Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 4 single-family homes and 2 townhomes.
That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to
312, compared to 160 last year at this time.
The total project valuation for residential construction this year is at $ 61, 842,270.00.
Commercial project valuation is at $63,686,448.00. A large portion of the commercial
project valuation for the year is attributable to multi -family development, which is
classified as commercial for building purposes.
There was a total of 170 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 2
weeks.
Residential — 61 Plumbing — 14
Commercial — 19 Mechanical - 18
Electrical — 13 Fire - 45
4. Community Development
The 3rd & Main Request for Proposals was posted and noticed on Sunday, December 27.
Proposals are due to the City of Kalispell on Friday, July 9. The City of Kalispell is
seeking proposals from development firms seeking to privately finance, construct, and
manage a redevelopment project on what is currently a City owned parking lot within
Downtown Kalispell, Montana. Complete information may be found at:
htlps://www.kalispell.com/584/3rd-Main-Request-for-Proj2oSaiL
The City has secured approval from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality
(MTDEQ) to utilize its Brownfields funds to conduct Phase I environmental site
assessments at three properties in the Core Area in advance of property sales. The City is
now awaiting final approval from the EPA's Region 8 office. The work is expected to be
completed by end of January.
5. Public Works
WWTP Laboratory Equipment
Kalispell WWTP Operations have been performing internal laboratory analysis on
influent and effluent wastewater for almost 30 years. In 1992, during Kalispell's first
major upgrade to the biological treatment process an Auto Analyze (AA) was purchased
to analyze Ammonia, Nitrate + Nitrite, and Phosphorus. The City's Laboratory
Technician and Chemist continue to perform these required routine analyses on a weekly
basis. Due to repetitive malfunctions and difficulties finding replacement parts for the
older equipment, the City allocated funds to replace the AA in FY 21. In December
2020, the AA was replaced with a Discrete Analyzer, which is capable of, but not limited
to, performing the required analysis for Ammonia, Nitrate + Nitrite, and Phosphorus. In
addition to the new Discrete Analyzer saving time for staff setup and analysis, it only
requires a quarter of the reagents, and the reagent are phenol free (creating less fumes).
Figure 1: 1992 Auto Analyzer (
Figure 2: 2020 Discrete Analyzer and Dana Haw trn, any Lob Tech
TSS LED Light Conversion
The City owns and maintains 454 decorative and streetlight
luminaires throughout Kalispell. In 2017, the TSS staff
started a project to covert the luminaires to more energy
efficient LED lighting. This conversion consisted of
replacing a mixture of new heads, ballasts, and bulbs
depending on the style of light. TSS is currently converting
the bulbs in the downtown bollards, which will complete the
last phase of the project. It is estimated that with the LED energy conservation alone,
payback time for the conversion is just over three and a half years.
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