Planning board OK’s revisions to Ruis project; hotel scrapped for apartments
A restaurant and apartments are planned for the southeast corner of the Ruis property on Nucleus Avenue.
By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News
The Columbia Falls City-County planning board last week approved an amended planned unit development for Ruis Construction on Nucleus Avenue.
Developer Mick Ruis dropped the original plan for a boutique hotel at 540 Nucleus Avenue and instead changed it to 12 residential apartments on the second and third floors of the building, which will sit in the southeast corner of what is the city square.
Ruis tore down the former First Citizens Bank at the site.
The lower level of the building will include a 5,600 square foot restaurant with a casino.
The planning board took up the application again because the restaurant would have a casino and parts of the building will be higher than what the current zoning allows.
The parapets of the building will be 40 feet and the staircase will jut up 50 feet.
Under the zoning, the maximum height allowed is 35 feet without a variance.
The planning board has previously approved the variance in Ruis’s initial application.
Much of the discussion from the board came from the height variance.
Some members wondered if the buildings on Nucleus were simply getting too tall. If developers were given variances, what was the sense of having a 35-foot limit.
But others noted the building overall is about 2 feet taller than what’s allowed and they’d rather see buildings going up, rather than sprawling out,.
“As far as I’m concerned, the only space is downtown is up,” said board member Steve Duffy.
But board member Sam Kavanagh said that there has been concern about simply getting taller.
“Does Columbia Falls want to continue to go vertical?” he asked rhetorically. “… We acknowledge the community is not all pro going higher.”
Kavanagh suggested with other projects, the board take a closer look at building height.
The plan also includes 81 parking spaces total, although the zoning doesn’t require it. It will serve the restaurant and the apartments being built to the north.
Boardmembers appreciated the parking in the plan, even though zoning doesn’t require it. Parking has become a premium in downtown, particularly in the summer months.
In the end, the board approved sending the amended plan onto council with a positive recommendation by a 7-1 vote.
Member Robert Smith voted against the amended plan, based on the fact that it didn’t meet the city height requirements.
The building to the north of this one includes commercial space on the lower floors and 48 residential units on the upper floors.
Under the zoning, all of the residential units in both buildings could conceivably rented as short-term rentals, though it seems like that in other buildings Ruis has constructed in downtown, more than a few are not short-term residents.
The application now goes on to the city council for final review.