KALISPELL - The Kalispell City Council passed some new building plans on Monday that could have a drastic impact on the downtown community.
What started as a proposal for a boutique hotel has turned into a hotel, parking garage and residential units at two separate locations.
With the hotel taking over the parking lot at Third and Main, the city had to look at what additional parking the hotel would require and how to replace the spots that are going to be removed.
That is where the idea for the parking garage came from.
The Eagles Lot on First Ave West and First Street East will be the location for the 8-story parking garage with 242 parking spots and 78 residential units.
It is unclear just how many of these parking spaces will be public.
“We understand that there's some things that people don't necessarily like about density. But one of the nice things about it is if you've got public infrastructure that's in place, you got water and sewer and roads that are in the urban area, and especially in the urban core, and you don't necessarily need to sprawl that out. So, you know, here if it's 78 housing units that can locate where there's already some of the infrastructure to support it. It might be 78 that aren't getting built out into existing farmland, or something like that." - City of Kalispell Senior Planner P.J. Sorensen
The developments still have many city hoops to jump through before construction begins, but there will be buildings at these two locations in the future.
The public has been vocal in opposition of the aesthetic changes in the downtown area, but the Kalispell City Council has approved the project to move forward.
