In anticipation of Kalispell’s continued growth, West Valley property owners are looking to shape future residential development on several pieces of land by easing agriculture zoning restrictions.  

The properties, located at 985 Three Mile Drive and 1376 and 1390 Farm to Market Road, cover about 238 acres of land. The applicants want to rezone the property from agriculture to suburban agriculture.  

The property owners listed on the application are Dennis Heck with Harvest Acres LLC and Darril Dern, Darlene Adams and Beverley Tubbs. As both Dern and Tubbs are dead, they are represented by Le Rock “Rocky” Adams and Amy Lynn Tubbs, respectively.  

The Flathead County Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the application at 6 p.m., Wednesday in the second-floor conference room of the South Campus Building at 40 11th St. W. 

Suburban agriculture allows for denser residential development while maintaining a rural neighborhood character. It requires a minimum of 5 acres per lot while agriculture zoning sets the minimum at 80 acres per lot.  

The zoning change would allow the development of 43 additional lots, according to a staff report.  

“[The applicants] are aware how fast Kalispell is growing and would like to have the control of options for the properties in place sooner than later,” reads a statement in the report.  

The land is undeveloped except for two lots containing a primary residence. The applicants indicated the creation of another 5-acre lot for family on the property.  

Were the land developed under the proposed zoning, traffic would be anticipated to increase on Farm to Market Road by about 15% and Three Mile Drive by about 17%, with 405 additional vehicle trips expected. The 43 additional lots could also generate about 14 additional school-age children, according to the staff report. 

Any future development on the property would likely be served by septic systems and wells since the area is not located within a public water or wastewater district. Should the property be subdivided, it would need to be reviewed by the Flathead City-County Health Department and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, as applicable. 

Parkland dedication requirements would also need to be determined, since there are several parks, natural areas and recreational opportunities in the area.  

The West Valley Land Use Advisory Committe voted unanimously to forward the application with a positive recommendation during its Sept. 23 meeting. 

PLANNING BOARD members will also consider an application to amend business zones to permit the indoor growth and cultivation of marijuana. Marijuana cultivation is currently limited to agricultural and industrial zones although dispensaries are permitted in business zones.  

The zoning amendment, submitted by Jim Roth of Kalispell, seeks to expand the list of zones by adding indoor marijuana growth and cultivation as a permittable use in the B-1 Neighborhood/Professional Business zoning district. The amendment also establishes a corresponding definition in Section 8.08.  

An evaluation of the proposed amendment found it falls in line with the Flathead County Growth Policy, according to a staff report. The policy seeks to preserve open space and adaptive reuse of land and minimize land use conflicts. 

“The proposed indoor cultivation is an enclosed use that does not compete with recreational land and can be located in existing commercial buildings, preserving open space and reducing sprawl,” the staff report reads.  

Planning Board members will also consider an application to rezone a 35.15-acre property on Whitefish Ranch Road, about half a mile south of Whitefish Hills Drive, to create a small, 3-lot subdivision. The application proposes rezoning the area from AG-20 agricultural to SAG-10 suburban agricultural. 

The application was submitted by Whitefish Hills 40 LLC, with technical assistance from Jack Alton from Sands Surveying, Inc. The zoning map amendment falls within the Blanchard Lake Zoning District, and Flathead County commissioners have scheduled a public hearing for the amendment at 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 18.  

THE LAST item on the Planning Board’s agenda is a subdivision application to build 10 single-family residential lots on about 33.672 acres of land located along Homestead Trail and Green Valley Lane near Columbia Falls.  

The proposal represents the final stages of a 10-stage development process. 

Mummy Mountain, LLC, is behind the application and plans to build the 10 lots in two phases, building five lots per phase. To date, 31 lots have been created in Green Valley through previous subdivision approvals and boundary adjustments, according to a staff report.  

The area is currently without zoning, undeveloped and in agricultural production. The Flathead Conservation District and Natural Resources Conservation Service recommended minimizing impacts on soil quality, water access and management value as available farmland decreases.  

The developer owns the irrigation facilities on the subdivision and intends to irrigate the area to allow continued farming until the homes are built, according to a staff report. The proposal is also found to have minimal impact on wildlife, as well as water and wastewater services.  

Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 758-4439 or [email protected].