The Kalispell City Council on Monday approved designs for a new senior living center.

Immanuel Lutheran Communities is planning to build Timber Meadows senior living facility, a $7.5 million, 40-unit multifamily complex on Meridian Court. The property lies on 4.36 acres south of the railroad tracks north of Second Street West and west of South Meridian Road.

The road plan calls for a single two-way road to enter the 40-car parking lot from Meridian Court to the north.

Council member Jim Atkinson questioned the safety of the lot, asking how fire trucks would handle getting in and allowing traffic out in the case of a fire.

Jarod Nygren, senior planner at the Kalispell Planning Department, said the plans had been reviewed by all the necessary people, including Fire Chief Dave Dedman. Each group had considered the plans safe for emergency exit and accessibility for emergency vehicles.

“Keep in mind what they’re trying to get out of this, they’re trying to keep the residential-type feel,” council member Phil Guiffrida said. “If the fire chief says yes, he knows what he’s talking about.”

City Planning Director Tom Jentz said there eventually would be a secondary entrance via walkway if the railroad tracks are removed.

“I concur that secondary access is always something we strive for,” Jentz said. “But we’d be cutting 60 feet of property out there and the cost [of adding a roadway connection south to Second Street] would dramatically change the character of that whole site.”

In the end, Atkinson was the lone vote against the Timber Meadows conditional-use permit.

“I’ve always been an advocate for connectivity for all subdivisions in our city,” Atkinson said. “I hope I never have to say I told you so.”

Mountain Plains Equity Group, which is handling financing for the project, is waiting on a tax credit application with the Montana Board of Housing, which would finance $6.3 million of the $7.4 million project. If the application is successful, Mountain Plains would look for local bankers and lenders to fill the remaining cost.

P.J. Sorensen of the city planning department presented amendments to the city’s flood-plain ordinances. The changes focused primarily on remapping areas near the Stillwater and Whitefish rivers. The remapping was done over the last five years.

The city is amending the flood-plain code to meet updated standards set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency so people can qualify for federal flood-plain insurance. The current city standards were last updated in 2007.

The council unanimously agreed to update the ordinance.

The council also voted to repeal dog licensing in the city. The measure was deemed redundant with a similar county ordinance already in place.

City Manager Doug Russell said the repeal wouldn’t change the enforcement already in place by the city, which would also let go of the $2,024 made from dog licenses.

“The county does a good job of returning dogs to their owners,” Russell said. “It’s been a topic that’s come before the council several times in three years.”

Council member Tim Kluesner wanted to underline that dog owners should still tag their dogs with the owner’s name and phone number. The measure passed on a unanimous vote.

Kalispell Architectural Review Committee Chairman Mark Nolen presented the annual architectural awards to Jackola Engineering and Architecture for Kalispell Kidds, CTA Architects Engineers for The Rock and Marcello Pieretto for Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s new radiation oncology building.

CTA also won for its work on the Three Rivers Bank addition.

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