Candidates laud downtown plan; pinpoint traffic concerns

Kalispell City Council members Sandy Carlson of Ward 1 and Chad Graham of Ward 2 will run uncontested in the upcoming municipal election Nov. 7. Ward 1 is the northwest portion of town, west of Meridian Road and north of Railroad Street. Ward 2 encompasses the northeast sector of Kalispell, which runs east of Meridian and north of the railroad tracks.

Both representatives are strongly in favor of the Kalispell Core and Rail Redevelopment Project, which will include improved commercial rail access through the construction of Glacier Rail Park, more business-friendly zoning and a pedestrian and bike trail in place of the current railroad. The removal of the existing rail will also pave the way for increased residential and commercial development in the heart of Kalispell.

“I am totally in favor of that,” Carlson, 59, said of the project. “That is why I decided to run again. These first four years were just a learning process. Now that we’ve got the TIGER Grant, I just want to see the project completed.”

After three requests, the city was granted a federal TIGER grant totaling $10 million in 2015, enough to make the project a go.

“I wish that we would be able to speed the clock up and make it go faster because you want to see the fruits of your labor,” Graham said. “The amount of feedback that we’ve gotten back from the community about what they want to see is just astounding. It’s not even done yet and it’s a success in my mind.”

Graham, 38, also hopes to see increased north-south traffic flow once the tracks are taken out.

“As Kalispell grew, I think they became more of a divider than a uniter in downtown,” he said.

Both council members are also supportive of the plan to return Main Street to three lanes — including two lanes for traffic and a center turn lane — but acknowledge that the change could come with challenges. The Flathead County Commissioners are staunchly opposed to the two-lane plan for U.S. 93 on the grounds that the reduction would decrease “efficiency and safety of highways,” they wrote in a letter to the council in September. But city councillors are worried that a rebuilt four-lane U.S. 93 would drastically increase the volume of through-traffic in the downtown corridor.

“There’s so much controversy with that right now, but I think it would be helpful to the downtown business,” Carlson said of the two-lane plan. “It’s still in the planning stages so it’s hard to totally commit to a decision, but right now when that’s what they’re looking at … I think there are better alternatives than the four-lane highway going through downtown.”

Graham said he looked at the issue from the lens of quality over quantity.

“Do you want to have the quantity of cars going by or the quality of cars going by, the ones that are going to stop — not the ones that are passing through to get through Kalispell,” Graham said.

Traffic is also a hot-button issue when considering the pace of growth in North Kalispell. Graham noted that growth is important for a city to survive and considers the northern expansion a positive development for the local populace. Graham said the growth up north has helped keep shoppers in the area, rather than travel to Missoula.

Carlson said the city needs to be proactive about traffic issues in the northern part of the city.

“I think traffic up there will always be an issue and something that can be improved upon, just depending on the growth,” she said. “As the need progresses, we need to address those needs immediately and not put it off.”

On the issue of affordable housing, Carlson is in favor of more development. She said that prospective apartment complexes have incurred negative public feedback recently, but doesn’t see the problem with more affordable housing coming to the area. Carlson argued that if the community wants to retain young people, they need to have a place to house them.

“If we’re going to see our young people here we need to have affordable housing for them. I’ll be honest — my daughter is looking for her own place, but there’s nothing affordable for her and she’s still living with me,” Carlson said. “They need to have other options. As long as it goes through the planning board and it’s approved, I don’t see anything wrong with an apartment complex or a duplex.”

Graham said developers are still trying to catch up with the growing population of the Flathead Valley.

“For affordable housing, I think we probably got caught off guard with this boom,” he said, noting that he has seen a number of multi-family units go up or begin construction.