Town Pump eyes zoning change for new facility

A request from Town Pump to rezone its property on the southwest corner of Cemetery Road and U.S. 93 South tops the Kalispell Planning Board agenda at tonight’s meeting. The zone change would allow them to build a new convenience store and casino on the property.

Town Pump asked the board to change the entire property’s zoning to B-2/Planned Unit Development District designation, since part of the site is currently zoned for B-2 General Business.

According to the Kalispell Municipal Code, B-2 General Business zoning designates “a district which provides for a variety of sales and service establishments.” These districts “would typically be found in areas designated as commercial and urban mixed use.”

A planned-unit development district serves as an “overlay zoning district,” according to the code. It functions “in concert with one or more of the underlying zones to provide a comprehensive, integrated development plan” and the intent is to provide “flexibility of architectural design and density.” Planned-unit developments also allow for the option of mixing “land uses and densities while preserving and enhancing the integrity and environmental values of an area.”

Currently, part of the site is zoned as B-2 and part of it is zoned as B-2/PUD. Town Pump’s goal with the zoning change is for all of the 4.6-acre property to be “encompassed by the PUD overlay.”

Town Pump currently operates a casino a few hundred feet east of the subject property, but the meeting agenda reported that property is “nonconforming.” If that casino were closed or moved, the agenda explained “it cannot be legally rebuilt.”

If the zone change is granted, Town Pump plans to demolish the existing building and rebuild it to conform to the code on the other property. The new facility would also include new design concepts like those at the Town Pump located at the intersection of U.S 93. North and West Reserve Drive, across from Home Depot.

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing and take public comments on the proposed zone change at tonight’s meeting. The board previously discussed this proposal in a work session in July.

The board has discussed “the merits of rebuilding the existing casino and incorporating improved architecture, landscaping, signage and screening at that intersection to better reflect the entrance to Kalispell and match the other two corners where Toyota and Green Nissan/Hyundai are located.”

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the City Council Chambers, 201 First Ave. E.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.