The Daily Inter Lake

Developers in three or four months are expected to submit to the Kalispell Planning Board plans for the first segment of a potential 3,000-home project on one square mile west of Glacier High School.

That first segment likely will be roughly 150 homes on 30-40 acres in the northeast corner of the development site - southwest of the intersection of Stillwater Road and West Reserve Drive, said Greg Stratton, vice president of the Montana branch of the Phoenix-based The Aspen Group.

The developers briefed the Planning Board on Tuesday on the overall project - dubbed "Starling."

The briefing addressed the project - which calls for 3,000 homes to be built during the next 20 years - only in broad strokes. "This is our first brush on what we would like to see on the property," Stratton said.

The briefing's purpose was to familiarize the developers and the board with each other, so the developers would be more likely later to submit plans - plus annexation and zoning requests - that would mirror what the Planning Board wants.

On Tuesday, board members liked the overall concept, and they mentioned some of the board's preferences in how streets and homes should be designed.

The developers expect to submit one segment of the project annually for the next 20 years to the city government for approval.

The project is a partnership of The Aspen Group and the farming family of Paul and Viva Starling Harrington Grosswiler, which owns the land. "Starling" is the name by which Viva Grosswiler has been best known.

The overall Starling area is expected to have a mix of single-family houses, townhouses and condominiums for a variety of income brackets. Later phases of the project could include offices, specialty stores, coffee shops, cafes and daycare centers,

Long greenbelt parks cross the site in the master plan, along with a 15-acre commonslike park in the center. A pond is planned for a depressed area on the site's west side.

Fifteen acres each are to be set aside in the southeast corner for a neighborhood school and an area that could be a mix of retail and other uses, including multiple-family housing.

The developers in August want to start putting in streets, and water and sewer lines in the northeast corner.

The Aspen Group is managing two other projects in Flathead County. One is an 84-acre site that is supposed to have 181 homes in the Meadow Lake area of Columbia Falls. The other is in the planning stage and is supposed to be a 13-acre upscale mixed-used development in Whitefish.

The Starling site adds to the huge housing projects proposed for in and around Kalispell.

These include:

. The 139-acre Willow Creek housing project just southwest of Kalispell, which is on hold as developers Wayne and Hubert Turner ponder direction from the Planning Board to trim the original proposal for 711 homes.

City officials expect the Turners to submit a revised plan during the next several weeks.

. Las Vegas-based Southwest Homes Inc. recently putting its plans on indefinite hold to build 813 homes on 85 acres south of Glacier High School, within Kalispell city limits. Southwest Homes could sell the land or restart the project on its own or with a partner.

. Kalispell recently annexing the 325-acre Silverbrook Estates site 2.2 miles north of town. The developer, 93 and Church LLC, wants to build 466 houses, 120 townhouses, a neighborhood commercial district and a parks-and-trails system.

. Developer Mike Anders proposing a 140-acre, 650-house project - dubbed Trumbull Creek Crossing - northeast of town. He has sent initial feelers to the city government about annexation and utilities.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com