09-03-21 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
9/3/2021
1. Fire Department
From August 1 to August 25, the Fire Department had 330 responses. Of these, 253 were
medical incidents, 10 Motor vehicle accidents, 9 citizen complaints (unauthorized burning, etc.)
11 Fire alarm activations, 5 public assists, and 6 Haz-Mat (Gas leak, spills, carbon monoxide).
A Lieutenant’s exam process was completed on August 24. An eligibility list was finalized and
future promotions for Lieutenant will come from this list. This was a 3-part testing process
including a written exam, scenarios, and an interview.
A Captain’s exam is scheduled for September 15. The Captain’s testing process will mirror the
Lieutenant’s test process.
The Assistant Fire Chief Position was filled with retired Kalispell Fire Department Lieutenant
Jessica Kinzer. Chief Kinzer will start September 7.
New Firefighter/Paramedic Luke “Gus” Butler has completed his training academy and is now on
shift continuing with his field training and task book.
2. Police Department
On August 18, the Kalispell Police Department’s Records Division went through a
routine audit by the Department of Justice for compliance with the rules of the state
Criminal Justice Information Network (CJIN). This audit looks at CJIN policy
compliance, previous audit cycle comparisons, record quality review, and criminal
history record inquiries.
Chief Overman attended a stake-holder meeting on August 26 to strategize the future of
mental health crisis response in the Flathead Valley. One of the primary topics was
recruitment and retention of the Co-Responder program in the valley. The meeting was
attended by members of law enforcement, non-profit, medical providers, and the health
department.
Sworn personnel of the Kalispell Police Department are going through annual
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qualifications during the week of August 30-September 3. This is the annual
confirmation of proficiency with department firearms.
Officer Jason Parce presented to noon Rotary on August 26. Officer Parce spoke of his
challenging and successful journey in using “operant extinction” to convert K9 Cairo
away from marijuana with the recent legalization. Officer Parce recently passed a
certification enabling Cairo to continue to be used in the field.
Year to date calls for service stand at 23,618. This compares with 21,759 in 2020, and
24,726 in 2019.
On August 31, SRO Master Patrolman Cory Clarke assembled a meeting with FCSO
School Resource Officers (SRO), Whitefish SRO, KPD SRO’s, Youth Court, and
representatives from the Center for Restorative Youth Justice (CRYJ). The agenda was
to get all of the SRO’s in Flathead County on the same page with referrals to CRYJ.
CRYJ and Youth Court provided statistics that showed a youth is less likely to reoffend if
they complete the CRYJ program as opposed to issuing a citation and paying a fine.
3. Public Works
Center Street West Improvement Project
The Center Street West Project is nearing completion. The Contractor is currently
wrapping up landscape restoration and utility collars with
substantial completion and opening to traffic slated for
Friday, September 3.
This project included furnishing labor, materials and
equipment required to reconstruction approximately 1,590
feet of Center Street West from Meridian Road to 7th
Avenue West. Also included in the project: storm sewer
manholes, drainage inlets, storm main installation, paved
surface restoration, concrete flatwork and landscape
restoration. The street reconstruction costs for this project
were funded with the Kalispell’s 2021 allocation from the
Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Act (BaRSAA).
WWTP Annual Clarifier Cleaning
WWTP staff are conducting the Annual Clarifier Cleanings. This is
done to check the chains, gears, and flights to replace anything in need.
All nuts and bolts are tightened and adjusted for the best operation.
The wastewater goes through a Filter Screen and grit removal in the
Headwork’s Building and then is pumped up to the Primary Clarifiers.
The Primary Clarifiers settle out the solids, the flights push the solids to
the pit on the north end and are pumped to the fermenter for the
biological phosphorus removal process. The flights also pull the grease
and floating material to the south end where a trough rotates to remove
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the material on the top of the wastewater. After all that the wastewater leaves the
Primary Clarifiers to the Bio-cell structure where BOD, TSS, Total Phosphorus and Total
Nitrogen are removed before discharging into Ashley Creek.
4. Planning Department
The Kalispell City Planning Board will hold a public hearing at their September 14
meeting and take public comments on the agenda items listed below:
1. File #KA-21-04; KPUD-21-03; and KPP-21-07 – A request from G23 Properties,
LLC for the Parkland Meadows Planned Unit Development (“PUD”), which is a
Residential Mixed Use PUD overlay on approximately 38.4 acres of land at the
northeast corner of Airport Road and Cemetery Road. The proposal includes
annexation of the property, initial zoning of RA-1 (Residential Apartment) on
approximately 31.1 acres, and initial zoning of B-1 (Neighborhood Business) on
approximately 7.1 acres, as well as major preliminary plat approval for the
development. The PUD calls for a total of 480 dwelling units in the RA-1 area as
well as development which may occur within the B-1 area consistent with that
zoning. The preliminary plat encompasses the entire PUD and includes 7 RA-1
lots and 7 B-1 lots.
2. File #KPUD-21-02; KZC-21-01; and KPP-21-06 – A request from Kilday &
Stratton for the Starling Phases 1-8 Planned Unit Development (“PUD”), which is
a Residential Mixed Use PUD overlay on approximately 58.0 acres of land on the
west side of Stillwater Road to the west of Timberwolf Parkway. The property
was previously annexed with an R-3 (Residential) underlying zone and has an
expired PUD overlay over the full section of land. This proposal would rezone
the 58.0 acres to RA-1 (Residential Apartment) with a new PUD overlay for the
subject property. The proposal includes a proposed preliminary plat for Phases 1-
3 of the project, which encompasses 20.84 acres of land. Phases 1 and 2 contain
approximately 14.9 acres and include 77 residential lots and sublots (37 single-
family and 40 townhome lots). Phase 3 is a single lot plus common area totaling
approximately 5.9 acres (2.75 acres of developable area and 3.18 acres of
common area) with proposed uses potentially including up to 35 multi-family
dwelling units, a combination of live/work units and office space, or small-scale
neighborhood retail.
3. File #KZTA-21-03 – A request from the City of Kalispell for a zoning text
amendment specifying appropriate zones, criteria and definitions for marijuana
dispensaries, cultivation, and processing. The text amendment is necessary to
address recent changes in state law which will become effective at the end of the
year. The proposal would add new use categories for marijuana dispensaries,
marijuana cultivation, and marijuana manufacturing, along with related
definitions. Dispensaries would be allowed in all B (Business) and I (Industrial)
zones, while cultivation and manufacturing would be allowed in all I zones. An
administrative conditional use permit (“ACUP”) would be required for all
locations. The proposal includes a 300-foot buffer from churches, schools, parks,
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and city residential (R or RA) zones, measured from property line to property
line.
5. Building Department
In the last 3 weeks, we have issued permits for 16 single-family homes and 2 townhomes.
That will bring the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to
180, compared to 182 last year at this time.
There have been 305 multi-family housing units issued so far this year. Last year at this
time we had issued 96 multi-family housing units.
There was a total of 188 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 3
weeks.
Residential – 83 Plumbing – 35
Commercial – 10 Mechanical - 17
Electrical – 24 Fire - 19
6. Community Development
Kalispell’s volunteer Selection Committee for the 3rd & Main parking lot reviewed The
Charles Hotel proposal in accordance with the RFP criteria. The Charles Hotel was the
only proposal submitted and includes a 79-unit boutique hotel with a full-service
restaurant, rooftop bar and valet parking service. The project is to be five stories at the
3rd & Main location. A parking garage is proposed to address parking needs of the
development. The parking garage is proposed for location at the City’s Eagle’s parking
lot located at the southeast corner of First Street West and First Avenue West. Noting
significant aspects of the project will need to be delineated and memorialized in a
Developer’s Agreement, the Committee has recommended the project to City Council.
The recommendation will go before City Council September 7 for Council consideration.
Construction of the Foys Lake Section of the
Kalispell Bypass continues with 24 bridge beams for
the overpass being set this week. The overpass will
allow travelers to pass north-south over the east-west
connecting teardrop roundabouts.