For the first time in a decade, the Kelly-Main Street store is open for business.

And the Kalispell City Council appears willing to spend some of its growing stash of tax increment money to help flooring-store owner Paul Roybal improve the 88-year-old building more than he otherwise could.

Generally supportive council members considered his application for $72,961 in tax-increment money during a work session Monday and will vote on the request on April 1.

Council members also got an update from city staffers and Urban Renewal Agency volunteers who continue to brainstorm various redevelopment program proposals for the expanded West Side Tax Increment Finance District and ambitious new urban renewal goals for the railroad corridor.

Roybal’s request filed several months ago is the first to emerge from that ongoing process.

“He’s the pilot project,” Planning Director Tom Jentz told the council. “We used his project to put some reality into the policies, but it’s come to a head and we cannot hold him back any more.”

A facade rehabilitation program is one of the major things being considered for the tax increment district.

Under the proposal for Roybal, tax-increment money would pay for half of the $67,513 cost to improve Kelly-Main Street’s facade, rebuilding it with new stone pillars, windows, doors and awnings.

The building’s facade was destroyed by fire in 1976 and covered with the mix of chicken wire, plywood and stucco in place today. Its prominent location, age and unsightly condition make it a prime candidate for a facade program, Jentz said.

“He could put a coat of paint on and open for business. But we’re asking him to do more and he wants to do more.”

Shared utility extensions also are being considered. In Roybal’s case, tax-increment money would pay for half of the $37,065 cost to run an oversized fire-flow water line to Kelly-Main Street. That line then could be shared with several neighboring building owners who might want to install fire suppression systems.

Fire suppression remains a big challenge along Main Street and is needed for a business to expand its operations upstairs or downstairs, change a building’s commercial use or put in new residential dwellings.

The water main is buried under the highway, making it expensive for businesses to tap individually. That cost hinders the kind of dense, mixed-use development Kalispell wants to encourage. “The other thing is that there are [grandfathered] businesses that should be sprinkled right now for safety,” Jentz said.

While the fire-flow line would help this corner, the city will continue to explore solutions for other areas facing the same issue that are not in the tax-increment district, Jentz said.

The remaining $20,000 in tax-increment money would be offered to Roybal as a loan to install a fire suppression system and help repair the building’s roof.

Some of the other tax-increment programs being considered would help businesses plant trees and repair or install sidewalks; help demolish blighted buildings and prepare sites for redevelopment; offer limited technical and design assistance for small businesses that want help with feasibility studies or building plans; and offer loans for interior building rehabilitation and code compliance.

City staffers and Urban Renewal Agency volunteers still are ironing out details for how those programs can invest tax-increment money to spur private investment.

They also are considering how to manage the tax increment money to have some available for major public goals such as pulling out the railroad tracks and putting in new parks and street connections.

“These are policy concepts,” Jentz told council members. The final proposed programs will be brought back for council approval.

IF FUNDING is approved on April 1, Roybal said he plans to run the fire-flow water line and rebuild Kelly-Main Street’s facade as soon as possible this spring, then hold a grand opening for his carpet and flooring business.

“I think it’s awesome the city will participate in this,” Roybal said. The help makes the reopening of a prominent downtown vacancy a better project, leading to major interior and exterior improvements that will clean up one of downtown’s busiest corners, he added.

“We’re just trying to revitalize a block that has been sleeping for 10 years.”

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