09-30-22 City Manager Report1
City of Kalispell
OFFICE OF THE CITY
MANAGER
Information Memorandum
9/30/2022
1. Parks Department
The Flathead High School Woodshop recently milled wood from
the historic Spring Prairie tree that once stood at the Kalispell
Youth Athletic Complex. The tree failed in a
windstorm in 2020. The wood was cut into the
largest dimensional lumber allowed by the
integrity of the wood. This will also allow it
to be milled further for a marker or monument,
that is yet to be determined, for the historical
tree in the future.
Forestry Staff are currently pruning along 3rd Street West. A forestry contractor continues
to prune trees along 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th streets east.
Park Staff have begun to winterize irrigation systems in parks on the outlying areas of
Kalispell. Restrooms will be winterized when temperatures start to be below freezing
overnight. This process takes approximately 4 weeks to complete.
Richard Hanes has been hired for our Parks Caretaker- Facility Maintenance position.
Richard has helped with this position in the past and spent the last three months working
as a park seasonal for us.
The Kalispell Kids After School Program is nearly a month in and is averaging 50 kids
per day. Starting in October, there will be weekly themes with a special activity and
movie planned every Wednesday. Special activities for October include a nature
scavenger hunt, pumpkin & spider crafts, and candy necklace making. Movies being
shown are “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, “Pocahontas”, “Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory”, and “Halloweentown”.
Fall Into Soccer and Runnin’ Rascals has entered their final weeks of the
season. Thank you to all the participants, volunteer coaches and of
course the parents. Little Dribblers registration is open, and the
registration deadline is on Friday, September 30.
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Adult Futsal registration is now open. The season runs from October 27 – February 23,
on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings from 6:00pm-9:00pm. The registration
deadline is Friday, October 14.
2. Public Works
Construction Stormwater Permit
The City manages a Construction Stormwater Permit to
stay in compliance with the Municipal Separate Storm
Sewer System (MS4) Permit issued by the State of
Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Permits are required for any activity where the total
volume of material disturbed, stored, disposed of, or used
as fill exceeds five (5) cubic yards or all land disturbances
greater than 1,000 square feet within the City of Kalispell.
Kalispell’s stormwater system typically runs untreated
to our local lakes, rivers, and streams. When pollutants
and trash are on the street or flow off construction sites
during rain events, they flow down the curb, into storm
drains, and discharge into and pollute local water
bodies. The intent of the permit is to review the plan
on how all pollutants, including sediment, will be kept
onsite during construction at the project site. The
City’s Environmental Coordinator manages the
Construction Stormwater Permit is responsible for all of the permit reviews, approvals,
inspections and enforcement actions.
2022 Construction Stormwater Permit Stats:
- 261 Construction Stormwater Permit inspections in 2022
- 125 Construction Stormwater Permit application submitted
3. Fire Department
From September 14 to September 27, the Fire Department had 151 responses. Of these,
there were 103 were medical incidents, 1 Kitchen Fire, 5 Rubbish/illegal burns, 8 Motor
vehicle accident with injuries, 7 Fire alarm activations, 12 public assists, 3 Haz-Mat
incidents, and 12 dispatched and canceled.
Kalispell Fire will be hosting a two-day Fire Investigation course at Station 61 on
October 1 and 2. Many Kalispell Firefighters will be in attendance as well as members
from other Flathead Valley Fire agencies.
Kalispell Fire will be taking part in the semi-annual Montana Firefighter Consortium this
October 1 and 2 in Billings. This consortium testing establishes a hiring list of
candidates for fire departments. All Class 1 Cities and many Fire Districts participate in
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this process.
4. Planning Department
The planning board will hold a public hearing on October 11 and take public comments
on the agenda item listed below:
1. File #KPP-22-06 – A request from Meadows Edge, LLC for major preliminary
plat approval for Meadows Edge Phases 4A and 4B, which is an updated
preliminary plat adding four (4) lots to a preliminary plat approved in August
2021 (Resolution 6035) for Phases 3 and 4. Both phases contained a total of 125
dwelling units (Phase 4 contained 94 units) under the existing approval. The new
Phase 4 would increase the number of units from 94 in Phase 4 to 98 and provide
for two subphases (Phase 4A with 50 lots and 4B with 48 lots). Phases 4A and
4B contain approximately 38.13 acres of land including the lots, streets, and
common area. The property is located within an R-3 (Residential) zoning district
with a Planned Unit Development overlay which allowed for up to 322 residential
lots and mixed-use commercial areas. During the course of design, the overall
number was voluntarily reduced to 304 and this addition would raise the number
back to 308. The property is located at 1120 Farm to Market Road.
Documents pertaining to the agenda item are on file for public inspection at the Kalispell
Planning Department, 201 First Avenue East, Kalispell, MT 59901, and are available for
public review during regular office hours. In addition, information on the agenda item is
posted on our website at https://mt-kalispell.civicplus.com/314/Planning-Board under
planning board “upcoming agenda.”
5. Building Department
In the last 2 weeks, we have issued permits for 2 single-family homes. That will bring the
total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 108, compared to
173 at this time last year.
There have been 402 multi-family housing units issued so far this year. Last year at this
time we had issued 344 multi-family housing units.
There was a total of 169 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 2
weeks.
Residential – 35 Plumbing – 23
Commercial – 37 Mechanical - 28
Electrical – 21 Fire – 25
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6. Community Development
The Urban Renewal Agency met September 21. The Board reviewed and voted on a City
Tax Increment Finance (TIF) application to the Downtown Urban Renewal District for a
public parking garage to be built at the southeast corner of First Avenue West and First
Street West (Eagles Lot). The URA board vote was divided therefore no recommendation
was made to City Council.
7. Information Services
GIS staff automated the process to update the Kalispell Crime Map to allow staff the
ability to more easily provide the necessary information to update the system. It is
anticipated that this will be the first of other internal automation efforts to maximize staff
resources.