The city of Kalispell Planning Board will consider a request for major preliminary plat approval of a development near the Gateway Community Center at its meeting tonight.

Husky Partners, LLC, is seeking approval for a three-lot subdivision project at 70 Glenwood Drive, known as Glenwood West Phase 2. The property consists of 3.60 acres and currently includes two apartment buildings. The property is zoned B-2 for general business and the plan is to build three multi-family units there.

The board also will hold a work session following the meeting about setbacks in the B-2 zone and alleys. The discussion is intended to be preliminary on both topics, potentially generating ideas and provid[ing] general direction to staff,” according to the agenda.

After the work session, the next steps for these items would be further discussions with other city staff members and then potentially formal consideration of both items.

Each of the work session items has been brought up in conversations at previous Planning Board meetings.

The first item concerns setbacks from buildings in the B-2 general business zone.

Current front setbacks are 15 feet, while parking buffers are 5 feet. The city’s current requirements reportedly incentivize developers to place their parking in front of buildings, thereby saving 10 feet of developable area. However, the city’s design preference is for buildings to be closer to the street with parking in back, according to the agenda.

The work session will therefore consider possible amendments to current setback regulations “to encourage designs with the building up front and parking behind it.” No formal decisions may be made during work sessions.

The second part of the work session will focus on alleys. Current city rules allow for alleys, but “they are discouraged in many ways.”The board will consider whether the city is interested in creating more favorable conditions for alleys.

The benefits of alleys include allowing for parking, storage, garbage collection and other activities to occur away from the main streetscape in neighborhoods. Alleys are useful for “effectively shielding some of the more utilitarian aspects of a property,” according to the agenda.

However, the city doesn’t usually take ownership of new alleys “due to long-term maintenance requirements and associated costs.” Alleys also cut into the developable land available on a property, so developers are often reluctant to use them.

The work session will address “what could potentially be done to alleviate the concerns about maintenance and loss of land.”

Documents related to the meeting and work session can be found online at https://www.kalispell.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08112020-484

The meeting is open to the public and starts at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11 in the City Council Chambers, 201 First Ave. E.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.