In a generally cordial atmosphere Monday night — disturbed by a lone outburst late in the meeting — the Kalispell City Council began its scoping process to determine the future of the city airport Monday night.

Forty-seven people spoke during the town-hall-style session that drew some 150 people to the Hilton Garden Inn just a few yards off Kalispell City Airport property.

“The purpose tonight is to rekindle the public process to eliminate sides, if there are any,” City Manager Jane Howington told the crowd as the meeting opened.

A deeply divided discussion has been under way at City Council and Planning Board meetings in recent months.

Residential neighbors in south Kalispell decry the noise and safety issues they say the airport poses. Pilots and airport-business owners note their self-imposed safety and noise mitigation efforts as well as economic benefits from the airport.

“The purpose is not to hear lengthy testimony … that comes later,” Lex Blood, facilitator for the evening, told those gathered Monday night, “but to bring out what the issues are.”

He cautioned against falling into an adversarial style that only polarizes the issue. “We’re here to work together,” he said.

“It’s not us against them,” former airline pilot and Aero Inn owner Gib Bissell agreed later in the meeting. “We found that out 10 years ago,” when the community joined to build Kidsports and move youth athletic fields away from the airport and out of harm’s way.

Mayor Pam Kennedy opened the meeting and City Council members, including Mayor-elect Tammi Fisher and Councilman-elect Jeff Zauner, were on hand to hear issues raised.

City Planning Director Tom Jentz presented a CliffsNotes version of airport history from 1928 to the council’s November 1999 agreement to upgrade the airport. Howington finished with the 2002 environmental assessment, the finding of no significant impact from the proposed action and today’s process to find an amenable middle ground.

Richard Kuhl led off with some of the 16 questions he had put together. Time constraints meant Blood asked speakers to be concise, then submit their full written comments for the record.

Kuhl raised points that were to become themes for the night — is the airport a money-making venture for the city, is it in the best location long-term, how will a redesigned airport differ from the present airport, how does the city plan to get land for expansion, will airspace safety height limits restrict how the city can grow in the future.

Then he put his finger on an issue that has concerned many: If the city accepts Federal Aviation Administration money for the proposed redesign, is it giving up control of the airport?

A long line of speakers brought up other issues throughout the two-hour session. (See Page A4 of Wednesday's print edition of the Inter Lake for extensive comments.)

When Blood explained the ground rules for the night, asking that extended comments be submitted in writing but only brief comments be spoken, and requiring every speaker to give his or her name but not residential address, Steve Eckels objected. He is a co-founder of the Quiet Skies Committee, a group of residents taking issue with airport plans.

“Bad!” Eckels called out in response to the no-address rule.

But Blood said that although “we can’t please all” with the format, there were sign-in sheets at the door that would be available for inspection and which included a request for attendees’ mailing addresses.

Later, Eckels offered his own comments for the record. He read a condensed version of six citizen assurances he wants the city to sign — asking for better noise levels, greater safety, enhanced city charm, revenue generation from the airport — and noted that the FAA already has refused to sign them.

“If you can adopt these,” he encouraged the City Council, “party on!”

But when he began reading yet another document asking the city for a survey of who is using the airport and where they are from, Blood asked him to submit those written comments for the permanent record.

“I will not,” Eckels retorted. “You already (sullied) the meeting” by not admitting addresses and thereby losing transparency, he said.

Blood repeated his request, but raised voices from the audience drowned out both the men. One member labeled Eckels’ comments as nonsense. “It is not nonsense,” he answered. Blood then asked Eckels to sit down, ending the exchange.

When the meeting ended a few minutes later, Kennedy told the group that city staff will research and prepare written documentation over the coming weeks to address issues raised at the scoping session.

Another public meeting will be scheduled in January to share those findings and to take more questions as needed.

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• Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com