The Kalispell City Council on Monday approved a development plan for two lots owned by Gardner Investments — one the site of a proposed car dealership.

The decision comes as Kalispell officials ask a judge for guidance on a related dispute over latecomers fees the city administers.

Council members Bob Hafferman and Kari Gabriel voted against the planned unit development. It applies to two lots at the southeast corner of Willow Glen Drive and U.S. 93 and is needed for DePratu Ford and Volkswagen to proceed with plans to build a Volkswagen dealership on one of the lots.

“I would like to see that project move forward post-haste. But I cannot and will not vote for this until simmering issues are resolved,” Hafferman said.

The main controversy is whether either of the two lots will connect to oversized water and sewer lines Montana Venture Partners extended to Old School Station at the city’s request — and pay latecomers fees required to tap those lines.

Old School Station developer Paul Wachholz has argued that Kalispell must force new construction projects within a “service area” vicinity map that accompanies his latecomers agreement with the city to connect to the water and sewer lines he put in and pay the necessary latecomers fees. Kalispell officials and Todd and Davar Gardner and their attorney have not shared that view.

In past meetings, Kalispell planning staffers have said the two lots can obviously be served by existing city infrastructure — possibly in ways that do not use the lines Old School Station put in. The issue of latecomers fees will be resolved by the public works department as final water and sewer plans are prepared and approved out for the two lots, they have said.

Mayor Tammi Fisher and council members Wayne Saverud, Jim Atkinson, Jeff Zauner, Phil Giuffrida III and Tim Kluesner voted to approve the planned unit development. Randy Kenyon was not present.

Saverud voted against the plan in its first reading but reversed that “minor protest vote” on Monday.

He said he supports the Glacier Volkswagen project but has concerns about how the planned unit development has been handled, noting the questions about latecomers fees and that landscaping plans, bike path plans and a traffic analysis all must still be done and approved by city staffers.

“We are making a final decision with very preliminary information,” Saverud said, calling that a change in city policy.

Gabriel said that she, like Saverud, supports the “excellent project” but also has unanswered questions. “I concur, except that I will not support it. That discussion should be taking place before.”

Fisher said questions about latecomers fees are an “ancillary issue” to the planned unit development. Giuffrida questioned the extent to which developers can or should be forced to prepare costly final plans for City Council consideration if a project is still in preliminary stages.

The issue of latecomers fees apparently will be resolved in court.

City Attorney Charlie Harball is asking Flathead District Court Judge Ted Lympus to weigh in on the dispute. A ruling would protect the city by providing “a legal determination on who has to pay latecomers fees and who doesn’t, so we don’t end up on the wrong side of a lawsuit,” Harball said.

Such lawsuits can prove costly.

The City Council approved a $312,736 legal settlement in 2011 to resolve a lawsuit over botched latecomers fee collections for an oversized water line that Owl Corporation ran to West View Estates.

Harball’s filing asks Lympus to consider Kalispell’s latecomers agreement with Montana Venture Partners and issue a judgment regarding the appropriate interpretation of that contract.

It also asks him to issue a temporary order requiring landowners within the “service area” to post a bond with the city “in a sum equal to the latecomer fee that would otherwise be due in the event the court makes a declaratory ruling that would require such payment.”

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