Kalispell City Council on Monday overhauled downtown parking rules in an effort to free up on-street spaces for customers.  

The measures are intended to encourage downtown workers to park in the neighborhood’s paid permit lots, which largely sit empty throughout the day. Among the changes, Council approved escalating parking fines and adopted a flat-rate permit fee that grants access to all city-owned permit lots.  

Councilors also prohibited drivers from avoiding citations by moving their vehicles down a parking space after reaching the two-hour time limit on on-street spaces.  

Under the new rules, parking fines would increase on a tiered basis. The first violation would carry a $20 fine, up from the previous $10. A second violation in the same calendar year would result in a $40 fine. A third or subsequent violation would result in a $60 fine. The violation count would reset at the beginning of the year.  

The original resolution called for a $30 fine on the first offense, but Councilor Dustin Leftridge successfully passed an amendment to lower it, arguing that tourists may simply lose track of time and don’t deserve a steep ticket.  

Mayor Ryan Hunter ultimately voted in favor of the change but said he is concerned the fines were still too low to deter habitual offenders. 

Councilor Sid Daoud argued that $20 was enough to work as a deterrent.  

“I’m a big cheapskate. That seems like a lot of money to me still,” Daoud said. “Some people might not be phased by it, but I resonate with the $20."  

Councilors also agreed to increase the fine for a third parking violation from $50 to $60, creating a consistent $20 increase between each offense level.  

The higher fines are not intended to make the city money, but to change people’s parking habits, City Manager Jarod Nygren told the Inter Lake.  

The parking rule changes are largely reliant on license plate reader technology that the city is purchasing to more efficiently enforce permit parking and the time limits on on-street parking. The system will be installed in two dedicated parking enforcement vehicles.  

In the past, the city relied on a parking enforcement officer chalking tires to keep track of parked vehicles. But the system was inefficient as the officer could only chalk the same spot every four hours.  

In addition to raising parking fees, councilors overhauled the permit fee system, adopting a flat $30 monthly permit that provides access to all city-owned permit lots. Previously, permit holders paid between $18 and roughly $30 per month for access to a specific lot.  

People can pay for a permit via an app that will be hooked into the license plate reader system.  

A few councilors were hesitant to support what they viewed as a sweeping change to the permit system after Glacier Bank Market President Mike Smith warned that it would disrupt the bank’s efficiency.  

Previously, Glacier Bank paid for 34 city-owned spaces reserved for employees. Now, the spaces will be open for any permit holder. Smith expressed concern that bank employees leaving for lunch or an appointment may lose their spot when they return.  

“That is going to create some unhappy employees. We could have morale issues,” he said. 

Councilor Sam Nunnally agreed that altering the permit system could hurt the many office spaces around downtown. He asked to hold off on changes until he could observe how the license plate reader system affects how people park.  

“I think if we make a jump on this today, I feel that we would run into unintended consequences, and I think we will get a lot of public comment back on it once we do it,” Nunnally said.  

Leftridge argued that Downtown Kalispell Forward’s parking report — which inspired most of the changes — showed that if stricter enforcement pushes employees off downtown streets, they will need accessible permit lots as an alternative.  

“I believe that if we just go halfway with this, that we are going to be creating additional problems that we’re going to be dealing with before too long,” Leftridge said.  

Hunter said the new parking rules are likely imperfect.  

“I think we will find once we implement it, that there might be adjustments,” he said.  

Council also passed an ordinance aimed at curbing the practice of downtown employees parking on the street and moving their vehicles forward one spot to avoid breaking the posted two-hour time limit.  

The new rule would require motorists to move their vehicle at least 600 feet after their two hours are up.  

COUNCIL APPOINTED seven members to the newly formed Housing Study Advisory Committee, which will help guide an analysis of the municipality’s housing market.  

While a few of the 23 applicants were not among Hunter’s recommended appointments, Councilors believed that the approved team creates a well-rounded perspective on housing.  

Mike Smith of Glacier Bank, Samaritan House Executive Director Cassidy Kipp, Public Affairs Director of Northwest Montana Association of Realtors Erica Wirtala, property manager and renter Jill Davis, Flathead Warming Center Resource Manager Sean Patrick O’Neill, Northwest Montana Community Land Trust Executive Director Kim Morisaki and sociologist Dina Rose were appointed to the committee.  

Hunter initially recommended Peter Hagen, land acquisition manager for Hayden Homes, but other councilors were unwilling to appoint someone who didn’t live in Montana.   

Based in Oregon, Hayden Homes is currently the largest builder in Kalispell, according to Hunter. He said it would be valuable to bring in an outside perspective.  

The idea of creating the committee grew out of a housing initiative Hunter championed during his campaign for office. While he pushed for a permanent body that would also focus on homelessness, councilors ultimately opted for a temporary committee tasked with supporting a consultant through the study process and providing housing policy recommendations upon its completion. 

COUNCILORS ALSO supported an application to establish the downtown area as a federally designated opportunity zone.  

An opportunity zone is meant to spur investment in an undercapitalized community by allowing investors to defer, reduce or eliminate capital gains and taxes and invest unrealized gains into a fund.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 406-758-4407 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.