The Kalispell Planning Commission has voted unanimously and sent to the full City Council a proposal to revise the City’s ordinance pertaining to Conditional Use Permits. If the Council approves the amendment, Conditional Use Permits in Kalispell will become revocable.
It was an attempt to revoke the Conditional Use Permit of the Flathead Warming Center than landed the City in Federal Court…a lawsuit the city lost.
Now, the Institute For Justice, the non profit organization that successfully represented the Warming Center, has chimed-in. The attorneys who came to Kalispell, Christie Hebert and Jeff Rowes, warns that passage of this amendment would have sever consequences–not only for the City but all property owners. First, such an amendment would violate the settlement agreement with the Warming Center, potentially sending the city back into an extended litigation. The second is a warning to property owners that the city, if this is passed, would be able to revoke any Conditional Use Permit retroactively. He says it would destabilize property rights and renig on the city’s agreement with the property owner.
Attorney Jeff Rowes tells us that the city’s attempt to “fix” what it did to the Warming Center puts the city back on a collision course with the Constitution.
