Planning board considers shelter expansion
The Kalispell Planning Board on Tuesday will consider a request for the expansion of a men’s shelter on Fifth Avenue West.
The board meets in the City Council chambers at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 201 First Avenue West.
Ray of Hope Ministries is asking to add a new 1,300-square-foot garage with an apartment on top to their facility at 46 Fifth Avenue West. The facility was granted a conditional use permit to operate in March 2005 and is seeking an additional permit for the expansion.
Ray of Hope Director Dave McLean says that the expansion won’t increase the shelter’s 44-person capacity, but it will allow them to better serve their community. The garage space will allow managers and guests to work on their vehicles, and the new housing unit will let the nonprofit, which also operates a women's and children’s shelter across the street, to keep families together.
McLean thinks that would help certain families with the drug and alcohol recovery process.
“It’s a real challenge to work with a family and you can’t keep them together,” McLean said.
The nonprofit ministry is a shelter, but McLean is quick to point out that their goals include helping people break their destructive habits.
“Our focus is not to just provide a roof over someone’s head,” McLean said. “The people that we take in, we work with them get on solid ground financially and solve the struggles that have gotten them there in the first place.”
“Most of the people I encounter are there because they have some hurt and have developed life habits that are destructive,” he continued.
All four house managers at both locations have overcome drugs and alcohol, so they can relate and give an example to the residents, McLean said.
THE BOARD will also consider a request from Owl Corporation and
Flathead Village Greens, LLC, for a residential zone change for 182 acres and a request for major preliminary plat approval for Stillwater Village, a subdivision with eight phases containing a total of 181 lots. It is planned to have 67 detached single-family and 114 attached single-family homes.
The plat contains about 20 acres of park area and park access for a total of about 66 acres to serve both the initial eight phases and future phases on the overall property that are not part of the initial project.
The proposed subdivision is located south of Silverbrook Estates, west of U.S. 93 and Hagerman Lane, north of Northern Pines Golf Course, and bordering the Stillwater River on the western edge of the property.
The board are also weighing an application from Michael Sandefer for preliminary plat approval
for Bitterroot Heights No. 2, a major subdivision at 249 Three Mile Drive that would include 13 single family lots on approximately 4 acres.
Finally, the board will consider a request from Brent Holdings, LLC, for
annexation and initial zoning, along with a request for major preliminary plat approval
for Creekside Subdivision, a residential subdivision with 71 single-family lots on just under 25 acres. The project calls for 35 detached single-family lots and 36 attached single-family lots.
The subdivision property is located at 1111 Farm-to-Market Road.
Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at 758-4407 or aknowler@dailyinterlake.com.