A Kalispell town-hall meeting on Wednesday mostly revolved around residents’ concerns about two one-way streets on the east side.

About half of the 12 residents at the meeting, not counting Ward 3 council member Rod Kuntz and Ward 4 council member Phil Guiffrida, live on the one-way sections of Third and Fourth avenues east.

The major question of the night from attendees was how people can urge the city to turn these streets back into two way streets, or at least slow down traffic.

By the end of the meeting, the residents volunteered circulate a petition to show public support for re-purposing the roadways.

This isn’t the first time the neighborhood has asked the city to return the streets to two-way traffic, according to Bill Nelson, who lives on Fourth Avenue East.

“We had an effort seven or eight years ago,” Nelson said. “We had a petition but we were told the funding wasn’t there.”

Back then, Four Mile Drive had been chosen as the focus of transportation development, funding and resources by the Technical Advisory Committee.

The committee of local and state transportation planners met last month to discuss options for the for the next project, mostly considering Willow Glen Drive or Whitefish Stage Road.

But the petition idea is a making a comeback and will be the next move by Third and Fourth Avenue East residents.

Both Kuntz and Guiffrida supported the idea and praised the neighbors for being active on the issue.

“It’s not just getting back to your residential neighborhood,” Kuntz said. “It’s a safety issue.”

One resident said her neighbor’s cars have been vandalized several times during “bar time.” Another said she didn’t feel safe letting her children walk alone across the street to Cornelius Hedges Elementary School.

Both council members pressed the importance of getting a majority of the affected residents to pledge interest by signing the petition. After rounding up a majority of support, the neighborhood could ask the city to create a special improvement district, which would raise taxes in that neighborhood to pay for the traffic study and potential traffic changes on the roads.

“I’m looking for 75 percent before I impose a tax on anything,” Guiffrida said. “Then I’ll tell the other 25 percent that’s the way it’s going to be. The more signatures the better.”

Nelson agreed to be head of the neighborhood action committee who would be in contact with council members in Ward 3.  

“Traffic is an important component of the city, and there will have to be studies,” Kuntz said.

Residents in attendance Wednesday also asked about the special 911 tax district proposed by Flathead County.

The countywide district would change the way the 911 dispatch center is funded.

“But it’s already working. Why do they need another $2 million a year?” John Hinchey asked.

Guiffrida said keeping the center’s technology up to date was at the forefront of the decision, but a new funding mechanism had been a discussion dating back several years.

“Public safety is one of the most expensive parts of city government,” he said. “This has been a long time coming, and the county didn’t set themselves up very well for it.”

The number of people at the town-hall meeting doubled from last month’s group, when six residents attended. Only four came to the September meeting.

Noting the increase in public interest, Guiffrida said he attended Wednesday’s meeting to understand the format and consider planning his own for Ward 4 with council member Tim Kluesner.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.