Brannigan’s Pub has brought new life to the corner of East Center Street and First Avenue East in downtown Kalispell.

The Irish pub across the street from Depot Park hopes to expand upstairs and open a fine dining and lounge area with small casino and card-table rooms on the second floor of the Loading Dock building.

But the project is running up against casino regulations Kalispell has on the books.

The pub is applying for a conditional use permit needed for any “minor accessory use” casino to operate within 300 feet of a city park, school, church, residential zone or another casino.

But even with the permit, Brannigan’s could use just 10 percent of its total floor space for the casino and card table rooms, which must be “shielded or screened” from the view of other customers.

For small establishments such as Brannigan’s, that limit doesn’t always work, said Dewey Swank, a partner in the project. According to planning documents, the pub would have about 5,326 square feet total with its upstairs expansion.

Part of the reason why the 10 percent limit doesn’t work has to do with video gaming machines that have increased in size since Kalispell wrote the regulation, Swank said.

To that end, the pub also is asking Kalispell to approve a zoning text amendment. If approved as requested, the amendment would “allow minor accessory use for a casino up to 20 percent of the business, provided the entire establishment is 6,000 square feet or less.”

“We don’t know if it will get accepted, rejected or what, but we’re going to ask,” Swank said.

The upstairs dining and lounge area and casino and card table rooms would rely on a new elevator installed in the building for access and use the pub’s kitchen downstairs, according to site plans.

Both of the pub’s requests go before the advisory Kalispell Planning Board on Tuesday, Feb. 12. They would then go before the Kalispell City Council for consideration and possible action.

“Council has always wanted to be involved in casino development, which is why we have these provisions in the code,” Kalispell Planning Director Tom Jentz said.

If approved, the zoning text amendment would apply to all other businesses going forward.

“So the planning board and the council will have to determine if that is OK, if an amendment like this would create difficulty or problems or if there is another way to do it,” Jentz said.

“We’ve been regulating casinos now since 2000 and in the last 13 years, have they proven to be a problem in the community? Those kinds of questions are difficult to determine.”

Kalispell Planning Department has not issued a recommendation on the requests. The department will release its staff report and recommendations later as the planning board meeting approaches.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.