A handful of local builders on Tuesday night backed Kalispell’s new land use plan and urged the Kalispell Planning Commission to implement predictable building standards to help curb housing costs.

The comments came during the Kalispell Planning Commission’s Jan. 13 public hearing on the city’s new land use plan required under a 2023 state law intended to streamline housing construction. Following public comment, the commission approved the plan, which will now go before City Council for review.    

The Montana Land Use Planning Act required 10 cities, including Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls, to draft a new land use plan that will guide the city’s growth for the next 20 years. But the law has drawn criticism from city officials for limiting public input on site-specific developments, prompting Planning Commission President Chad Graham to vote in opposition.  

By frontloading public input to drafting the plan, the law intends to ditch public hearings in front of City Council on site-specific construction. Annexations and zoning changes will still go through a public process, but subdivisions and conditional use permits will not.  

Former mayoral candidate Kisa Davison was one of the local builders who expressed support for the law on Tuesday, hoping it will streamline infill development.  

“I do know that frontloading this process and putting all of this effort into planning for our community upfront is what we need more of and less of a reactionary project-by-project decision-making process,” Davison said. 

Past public hearings have turned unconstructive when “everybody shows up there with their pitchforks and torches over those individual subdivisions,” she said.  

“I’m not sure that that public discussion really achieves what we’re looking for as a community,” Davison added. 

Flathead Building Association Executive Officer Mark Freidline praised the land use plan for its commitment to updating zoning and subdivision regulations that promote high density development, which he said will help reduce land costs.   

“Regulations account for roughly 25% of the cost of single-family homes and up to 40% of the cost of multifamily, often adding more than $90,000 per unit,” Freidline said, pulling from statewide data.  

“This plan recognizes the reality and moves Kalispell in the right direction towards housing affordability,” he added. 

BUT BUILDERS and planning commission members expressed concern over the public’s lack of knowledge about the incoming restrictions on public input for site-specific developments.  

“I can spend a lot of time swinging a stick in here and not hit anybody,” developer and former Republican lawmaker Frank Garner said about the dismal public attendance in City Hall.  

Garner was one of the developers behind the embattled Tronstad subdivision that received a torrent of pushback from nearby residents over several public hearings before ultimately getting Council's approval in November 2024. 

“I think we’re gonna have some unfortunate cases of people coming and wondering why something’s happening in their backyard,” said commission Vice President Rory Young. “We’ve done a good job at outreach, but it’s just one of those things that it’s not the world’s most exciting subject.”  

Graham cast the sole vote against the plan, calling the state law an “excrement sandwich.”  

He reiterated his past argument that public hearings are a necessary part of the development process.  

“Some projects do demand a closer look, because there are significant issues with the project that need to be ironed out a little bit and it needs to be done in a public process,” Graham said.  

THE COMMISSION also OK’d a preliminary plat for phase two of the Mountain View subdivision located off Foy’s Lake Road.  

Bison Hill, LLC, submitted the request for a preliminary plat that represents the next phase of development within the large, planned neighborhood already approved by Council. Mountain View encompasses 171 acres filled with single-family homes, townhomes, cottages and multi-family homes, according to a project description by Teton Land and Development Group.  

Phase two consists of 51 residential lots on around 14 acres.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and [email protected].