Kalispell moves toward business registration system

The city of Kalispell is moving forward with business registrations.

The registrations, a takeoff on business licenses, were given a tentative go-ahead Monday night during a work session of the Kalispell City Council. The registrations would not necessarily require inspections.

After receiving input from council members, City Manager Jane Howington said city staffers would revise the proposed fee structure and the business registration application to include contact information for instances when an alarm goes off at the business.

The council also reached a consensus against proceeding forward with any annexation of county property wholly surrounded by the city.

In response to a question from council member Bob Hafferman, Howington said a business registration is not a license and doesn’t necessarily require approval from city staff.

“Over a period of three years, we believe we can bring everyone into the system,” City Planning Director Tom Jentz said, referring to existing and new businesses. He hopes that most business would renew their registrations online to save time.

Jentz said it will be a “huge learning curve for existing businesses,” but noted that Kalispell is the only large city in Montana that doesn’t require some form of a business license. “We’re an anomaly in the state down to cities the size of Columbia Falls,” he said.

General business registrations currently are proposed at $30 per year with renewals at $20 per year.

Medical marijuana licenses would run $200 a year for first-time registrations and renewals. Jentz said there are three storefront medical marijuana dispensaries in the city and five growing operations — four at homes and one in a warehouse. These businesses are grandfathered because they began operating prior to the City Council passing an ordinance May 3 that effectively outlawed them due to federal law. The city ordinance went into effect June 2.

“There’s a lot of public safety reasons why you would” want business licenses, Howington said at a June meeting. “We have no idea what kind of businesses we have in the residential areas.”

In regard to privacy, Assistant City Planner P.J. Sorensen said the city couldn’t prevent a member of the public from viewing a list of business registrations, but could prevent them from copying it.

Council member Randy Kenyon asked how many businesses the city typically puts out of business because of non-compliance with zoning. Howington said the city typically allows the business to stay open as long as it is making an effort to comply with city code.

Answering a question from council member Jeff Zauner, Jentz said the city could issue citations to those businesses that don’t comply.

Zauner noted a number of businesses are not complying with the city’s lighting ordinance. “We’re taking a light hand,” Jentz said, noting the city is giving them until Christmas to comply.

Council member Jim Atkinson referred to the estimated $44,000 a business registration ordinance would generate.

City staff said the registrations would be revenue neutral and would just cover the costs.

Hafferman said he didn’t see the business registrations as a benefit to businesses. Referring to city staffers’ comments, Hafferman said, “There’s no additional workload. It’s just a new tax. The economy needs to be stabilized first.”

Mayor Tammi Fisher and council member Duane Larson said they would like to know when a new business opens so the city can send the owners a welcome announcement of some form. Fisher said she remembered being greeted by the Welcome Wagon when she was 7 years old, but hasn’t seen such an organization in Kalispell since.

Council asked Howington for a public meeting to discuss specifics of a tweaked business registration process prior to bringing it to council for action.

On annexation, Jentz told council that there are six pockets of county land that are wholly surrounded by the city.

City staff recommended proceeding with annexation of the North Haven Heights area, which consists of 32 residential lots on 25 acres south of Four Mile Drive west of U.S. 93.

If a property is wholly surrounded by the city, Jentz said, the property owners have no legal right to object to annexation.

Sorensen noted that these residents are receiving some police and fire services already. But those services are being paid for by other city residents, he said.

Sorensen said city residents typically pay 26 percent more in taxes after their properties are annexed.

A number of North Haven residents came to Monday’s meeting, and a couple spoke in protest to annexation during public comment at the end of the meeting.

Five council members said they do not support annexation of North Haven or any of the six areas. Council member Kari Gabriel asked city staff to review the issue in a couple years.

Timber Stevens, president of the Greenacres Water District, asked that council not annex its 162 acres that are wholly surrounded by the city.

The water district recently received a grant that would allow it to proceed with $400,000 worth of bonding to upgrade its water system, he said. The bonds would run for 20 years. Atkinson said he couldn’t support giving them an assurance of no annexation for 20 years because it would tie the hands of future city councils.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.