Kalispell’s Planning Commission spent part of its Oct. 13 work session on a question the City Council has already poked at: if fourplexes are going to be allowed in single-family neighborhoods, what should they look like?
Fourplexes are now barred in the city’s R-1, R-2 and R-3 zones, the Daily Inter Lake reported Oct. 16. Several councilors have supported allowing four units on residential lots, a change that could have been adopted under the Montana Land Use Planning Act but was tabled until design standards are written. Only three commissioners were at the October meeting, and no votes were taken; the items were up for discussion only.
Board member Cate Walker said she wanted “guardrails” if the ban is lifted, and favored apartment-style fourplexes that still read like a house from the street. “Something like that doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb like some fourplexes could,” she said. Brett Huff worried about parked cars on streets that are already tight. City planning director PJ Sorensen noted that under state law, units under 1,200 square feet are not required to provide parking, which makes the design rules more important, he said.
The commission came back to the subject on Nov. 10. In a Nov. 12 follow-up, the Inter Lake reported that the two members present, Walker and Dustin Leftridge, supported loose design standards and “general architectural templates” so a fourplex in an older neighborhood would not look out of place. They did not take a formal vote and planned to keep working on a recommendation for the council.
The ban in those three zones remains in place until the council actually changes the ordinance. For now, the argument is about the rules that would come with that change, not the change itself.
Add The Montana Statesman as a preferred source on Google (opens in a new tab)