A Bozeman developer wants to build 216 income-restricted apartments on Stillwater Road in north Kalispell, and before the project can ask the state for a property tax break, the city has to decide whether Kalispell actually needs it.
That question went to the Kalispell Planning Commission, which scheduled a public hearing on the Timberwolf Apartments for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at City Hall, the Daily Inter Lake reported. Under state law, the city must hold a hearing on whether a project like this meets the community’s housing needs before the owner can ask the Montana Department of Revenue to exempt all or part of the property from property taxes.
The project
Timberwolf Residential LLC plans six three-story buildings with:
- 72 one-bedroom units, starting at about 550 square feet
- 108 two-bedroom units
- 36 three-bedroom, two-bath units of about 1,050 square feet
Every unit would be limited to households earning up to 60% of area median income. Using Fannie Mae’s figures, the Inter Lake put 60% of Flathead County’s 2026 median income at $60,900. Plans include a clubhouse with a fitness room, a community space, a children’s play area and a dog park.
Boundary Development and Mach Development are the developers, and the Bozeman-based owner is partnering with Samaritan House, the Kalispell nonprofit that runs a homeless shelter and transitional housing and has worked with affordable housing builders before. Mach is also involved in a rent-restricted building on Appleway Drive.
The financing comes from 4% low-income housing tax credits issued by the Montana Board of Housing. The 4% credits are the less competitive of the two federal credit types and are usually paired with tax-exempt bonds, which is why they tend to show up on larger projects like this one. The 9% credits are the scarcer pot that projects compete for each year. The board’s most recent round, in October, awarded $40 million in credits for 136 homes around the state.
Why a tax break needs a local vote
Montana lets certain income-restricted rental properties owned or controlled by qualifying nonprofits apply for a full or partial property tax exemption. The idea is that the savings keep rents low for the life of the restrictions. Because an exemption shifts some of the tax load onto everyone else in the taxing jurisdiction, the law puts the local government in the loop first, through a hearing on whether the housing is needed.
In Kalispell, the numbers make that case easier to argue than it might have been a decade ago. The Flathead Valley’s population growth since 2020 has pushed rents and home prices well past what many local wages support, and the city has been approving a steady run of apartments and townhomes to try to catch up. The question for neighbors is usually less about need than about where: traffic on Stillwater Road, school capacity and what three-story buildings look like next to existing homes.
The commission’s recommendation goes to the City Council, which makes the final call on the housing-need finding.
Also on the agenda
The same meeting included a request from developer Spartan Holding to rezone about 11 acres inside the Eagle Valley Ranch community, just east of U.S. 93 and split by Quail Lane, from residential to neighborhood business. The planned unit development amendment would raise the maximum size of a restaurant from 4,000 to 12,000 square feet and a retail store from 4,000 to 14,000 square feet. Commissioners appeared supportive at an October work session.
The board also planned to keep working on two policy questions: design standards for development along the Parkline Trail, the rail-trail through the middle of town, and design standards for fourplexes. Fourplexes are banned in Kalispell’s R-1, R-2 and R-3 zones, though three or more attached townhomes are allowed in nearly every zone. Several council members have backed allowing fourplexes in all residential zones, which the Montana Land Use Planning Act would let the city do, but that was tabled until design standards are in place.
Mayor Ryan Hunter pushed for the Parkline standards out of concern that land along the trail would fill up with parking lots and other uses that don’t fit a walking corridor. At last month’s meeting, commissioners seemed more interested in light-touch design rules than in limiting what can be built there.
Agendas and staff reports are posted on the city’s website ahead of each meeting, and written comments can be sent to the Kalispell planning office before the council takes up the Timberwolf finding.
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