Zone change request on the table next month for Cedar Palace
The Cedar Palace’s employees had their last day on Friday. The building is now empty.
Columbia Falls has at least three projects that will go in front of planning board on Oct. 15, including a zone change request for the old “Cedar Palace” which could end up being a medical clinic.
The Cedar Palace is the common name for the old Plum Creek offices. They offices have been empty since shortly after the company merged with Weyerhaeuser in 2016 and the land has been for sale.
Flathead County considered buying the property for a new jail, but that was met with broad opposition by the public. Now, a medical facility could come to the office building, which has a window in every office, save for one in the center of the building.
The area is currently zoned for light industrial use, as its directly across the truck route from the MDF plant.
But more recently, some people in the community have said the open space might be better used for housing, as demand in the city is high.
On other housing fronts, the planning board will also see a request from Randy Jones Construction for a 12-plex on Diane Road.
The road already features a host of multiplex buildings, but Jones’ initially asked for an 8-plex, so the new request would add four units.
In addition, the Highline Apartments will ask the planning board to approve the next phase of that project, adding three more apartment buildings instead of two to the second phase.
In other planning news:
- The council approved the city’s revised growth policy. The policy has some significant changes, including the possibility of housing eventually coming to at least some of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. property. It also calls for high density housing east of the Flathead River along Highway 2 and south of the city as well.
One resident in the Aluminum City area objected to what is now a meadow that has wildlife value near CFAC being slated for future housing, but Mayor Don Barnhart said that the meadow had been slated for housing in previous iterations of the growth policy as well.
The new policy is simply a revision of the 2013 policy.