Council debates hotel parking

The Columbia Falls City Council had a spirited discussion about parking near the new Cedar Creek Lodge Monday evening. The debate ensued when Councilman Dave Petersen suggested that there be some leeway for future councils to go back and re-examine parking at the hotel and convention center if the project is built out to its full capacity.

At its last meeting, the council allowed the project to go forward without the necessary parking spots as required by the zoning regulations. The hotel has enough parking for the rooms, but problems could arise when the convention center has an event. Even with the city putting in 24 diagonal parking spots on Second Avenue West at its own expense, the parking falls short about 12 spots.

Petersen was looking for some sort of language in the planned urban development for the project that would give the council some leeway with the developer in the future.

“There is no question there will be parking issues,” Petersen said.

But backtracking at this stage in the project didn’t sit well with councilwoman Julie Plevel.

“This is a ridiculous way to do business,” Plevel said. She noted the parking issue was discussed at length during the public hearing for the project. 

City attorney Justin Breck said backtracking could also cause legal problems for the city. At best, they would have to go through the public hearing process again if council amended the plan. At worst, it could lead to litigation.

The developers have already started working on the foundation of the structure.

After hearing from Breck, Petersen dropped the idea altogether and voted in favor of the planned unit development, which passed on second reading unanimously.

Upgrading Second Street West for the hotel will cost the city about $245,000. About $50,000 of that will come from the city’s water fund, as the project will also replace a 60-plus year old water line.

City Manager Susan Nicosia said the city’s timeline for the work is in-line with the hotel project.

In other news:

• The planning board next Tuesday will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on several proposed zoning changes. One will allow the height of a detached garage to be raised from 15 to 22 feet in commercial-residential areas and allow building heights from a maximum of 30 to 35 feet. The board will also look at modifying the detached signage requirements in the business district. Businesses on Nucleus would like to have signage closer to the highway, but current signage requirements only allow for very small signs. In addition, the city is proposing to amend the suburban-agriculture zoning to allow more clustered, higher density housing in order to preserve open space and/or farmland through easements.