The Kalispell City Council will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. tonight on the city’s preliminary $82.5 million budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

The proposed budget is about $2.5 million higher than last year, and includes provisions for four new city employees, including new positions in Public Works, the Police Department and Information Technology, a new storage facility for the Kalispell Police Department and property insurance rate increases.

The council is poised to adopt the final budget Aug. 17, after it receives final property valuations from the state.

Following the public hearing, the council will look at three city resolutions.

The first is a proposal from Colton Lee Communities, LLC, for a growth policy amendment, annexation, and initial zoning of a 3.27-acre property located at 216 Hutton Ranch Road. According to the agenda, these changes would “allow for the development of a multi-family residential project.”

The applicant is requesting a growth-policy amendment that would change the land use designation of the property from urban residential to “Commercial” on the Kalispell Growth Policy Future Land Use Map. The request also asks the city to annex the property with an initial zoning designation of B-2, “which is an appropriate zoning designation for the Commercial land use category,” according to the meeting agenda.

The council previously held two public hearings on these proposals, on May 12 and June 15. The only public comment on the proposal came from a representative of the applicant.

Another matter before the council this evening is a conditional-use permit for a proposed group home for teenaged girls dealing with mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Eureka-based Chrysalis Schools of Montana is requesting a conditional-use permit for a group home for a maximum of eight girls at 1005 Eighth Ave. E. Legally, the council can’t deny the permit, but “reasonable conditions may be placed on the facility consistent with conditions that might be placed on single-family homes.”

The Chrysalis Group Home would be part of a 12- to 18-month residential treatment program that includes 24-hour supervision, a regimented daily schedule and activities like hiking, biking and skiing.

Chrysalis only admits “students who are not a known safety risk to themselves or others,” according to the conditional use permit application. House rules prohibit the use of substances and sexual activity on the property, and the residents would not have their own vehicles while living there.

Despite these components of the program, the council received six written comments and one public comment at a public hearing on June 9 about the group home. Two of the comments were generally in favor of the home and the benefit of these types of programs. Most of the comments expressing concern about the home came from two individual nearby households. Their most prominent concerns were the potential parking and traffic impacts of the home, the effect on nearby property values and the influence of neighborhood children “growing up with these girls as [their] neighbors.”

The council has proposed five conditions for the permit, mostly regarding building improvements. The full list of conditions can be found in the meeting agenda at https://www.kalispell.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07062020-470.

Finally, the council will look at a change to the Hedges Elementary School Zone and speed designation, which would update the school zone boundaries and speed limits around Hedges School “to meet current standards.”

The Kalispell Public Works Department recently completed a study of traffic on Fourth Avenue West and found that “roughly 85% of the vehicles were speeding in the school zone.” To address this issue, the city received grant funding to install driver feedback signs near the existing speed limit signs in the area.

The school zone boundaries would also be adjusted because they have been found to be in violation of the current Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices standards. The standards require “the school zone to extend a minimum distance of 200 feet from the school grounds, a school crossing, or other school related activities.”

A full breakdown of the boundary changes can be found in the meeting agenda at https://www.kalispell.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07062020-470.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Monday in the City Council Chambers, 201 First Ave. E.

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