The Kalispell Planning Board heard plans Tuesday night for a fourth phase of commercial development in north Kalispell that would include up to 14 building pads. 

The Missouri-based Kroenke Group proposes to develop the 28 acres directly south of Costco on state school trust land. Kroenke developed Spring Prairie Phase Three on Treeline Road and plans to stick with a similar architectural look for its next development, Spring Prairie Phase Four. 

The new building pads would line the corner of Old Reserve Drive and U.S. 93 in an L shape, encompassing the former Department of Natural Resources and Conservation property and the northeast corner of Kidsports. 

No information is available yet what will go into the new development, but several stores have expressed interest, according to Karen Blumenstein, who represents the developers. 

“There’s a lot of history through this corridor and this is a great market in many ways,” Blumenstein told the Planning Board work session. “If you research who’s not already in the market, they’re probably looking at this spot.” 

In addition to the new buildings, Blumenstein said there are plans to develop the “dead space” to the southwest into two fenced dog parks and a playground area. 

The park area would overlap the new commercial development and Kidsports, so the commercial developers would be responsible for landscaping the area while Kidsports would build play equipment and seating in the park. 

“There will be a lot of community benefit that comes from this, partly just because we need a lot of dirt, and [Kidsports] need a bunch of dirt removed,” said Blumenstein. “It’ll be a lot cheaper if we do it together.” 

The development group plans to add a nine-foot-tall berm to the west of the development to block the view of the stores’ loading docks. During that process, Flower and Stone will grade the area, creating rough new fields for the sports complex. 

To the south of the shopping complex, the plan shows creative masonry work to hide the loading docks. 

The developers have submitted a traffic study request to the Montana Department of Transportation and hope to learn what kind of entrances and exits the development will require. In the rough draft, an entrance off Old Reserve is proposed across from the Costco entrance, with right in/right out entrances along U.S. 93. 

They also hope to put a traffic signal at the Flathead Valley Community College entrance on U.S. 93.  

The group still has several hurdles to overcome, including an amendment to the growth policy, a zone change map amendment, a planned-unit development overlay and subdivision approval. 

For the full plan, visit the Planning Board website at www.kalispell.com/planning. 

The commercial development plans are expected to be presented to the Planning Board during a regular meeting in March. 

Reporter Brianna Loper may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at bloper@dailyinterlake.com.