Kalispell council adopts ordinance allowing residential eaves to encroach up to 2 feet

The Kalispell City Council on Oct. 6 adopted Ordinance 19-46, a zoning text amendment that allows residential eaves to extend up to two feet into required side-yard setbacks in the R-1 through R-5 residential zones.

The amendment updates the city zoning code to permit eave encroachments while keeping main building walls at the established five-foot side-yard setback. Planning staff and the planning commission recommended the change as a way to align the municipal code with the International Building Code and to provide modest design flexibility for smaller lots.

Planning staff member Nygren told the council that allowing up to two feet of eave encroachment is consistent with building-code limits and would require fire protection under the code. "The 2 feet would be the max because that is per building code. The building code allows for up to 2 feet of encroachment, but the eaves would then have to have a fire protection underneath it," Nygren said during the presentation.

Peter Hagen of Hayden Homes, the applicant for the zoning text amendment, told the council the change will "support better home design without increasing lot sizes" and said it promotes consistency with surrounding jurisdictions and the IBC. Hagen said the allowance can create "an additional 80 to 140 square feet of usable interior space" in some house designs.

Mark Friedline of the Flathead Building Association also spoke in favor, saying the amendment will provide design flexibility and help address affordability pressures as lot sizes shrink.

Council members who spoke during the discussion described the change as a low-risk adjustment that increases design options and may reduce waste for builders. After debate, the council voted by roll call; the ordinance passed on the motion recorded in the minutes with all members voting in favor.

The ordinance amends multiple sections of the Kalispell zoning ordinance (including amendments referenced to ordinance number 16-77) to add a supplemental regulation titled "setback encroachment for eaves" and to revise the setback definition. The planning commission forwarded the staff report (KZTA-2501) and recommended adoption.

The ordinance includes a requirement that eaves encroaching within two feet be constructed with the fire-protective measures specified by the building code; the amendment does not change the five-foot location of the main structural wall. The council declared an effective date as part of the adopting motion.