Your Weekly Flathead Valley Land Use Planning Brief

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This is your Monday primer about the Land Use Plan updates in Columbia Falls, Kalispell, and Whitefish. Read on below for what happened last week, upcoming meetings, and other pertinent information.

We are currently working on a report that is exploring growth patterns (and their financial impacts on cities and taxpayers) across Flathead County since 2000. We anticipate releasing this prior to the end of the year, so stay tuned!

We will be taking a break from this newsletter next week due to the holidays and the lack of meetings.

Columbia Falls

Upcoming:

• Columbia Falls City Council (Utility Infrastructure Discussion) meeting on Monday, December 15, 2025 at 7 p.m., Columbia Falls City Hall (130 6th St W, Columbia Falls)

• Annual Public Meeting for Mountain Climber, Thursday, December 18, 2025 at 6 p.m., The Hub Downtown (533 1st Ave E, Columbia Falls)

Last Week:

• The Columbia Falls Planning Commission took an initial look at information related to the city’s current wastewater/sewer infrastructure.

  • Meeting materials and video can be viewed by clicking here.

  • Read our blog post on the city’s current public water and sewer/wastewater infrastructure by clicking here.

    • Spoiler alert: the city will need to upgrade its water and sewer systems as it continues to grow in the future.

      • The way that Columbia Falls grows will be very important to fund these improvements with minimal cost to taxpayers. We will delve into this topic on our blog in the coming weeks.

Kalispell

Upcoming:

• Nothing this week.

Last Week:

• The Kalispell Planning Commission reviewed Kalispell’s Draft Land Use Plan, and no substantial changes were made to the draft.

  • Click here to view the meeting recording.

  • An official [Planning Commission] Public Hearing for this Draft Land Use Plan is scheduled for Tuesday, January 13, 2026.

    • Draft will then continue to the Kalispell City Council for official adoption.

Whitefish

Upcoming:

• Whitefish Planning Commission review of Housing Element, Wednesday, December 17, 2025 at 6 p.m., Whitefish City Hall (418 E 2nd St, Whitefish)

  • The Housing Element draft will be made publicly available shortly after this meeting.

• The Whitefish Planning Commission determined that it would have weekly meetings in January (on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.) to address the Land Use Element of the Land Use Plan.