Board confronts W. Glacier gravel-pit plan

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead County Planning Board wraps up a remarkably busy year tonight, with one final meeting featuring public hearings on five more subdivisions and another controversial gravel mine.

The mine along Belton Stage Road just outside of Glacier National Park has drawn the most attention.

The operation proceeded on a reasonably small scale under the previous owners; however, new owner Robert Spoklie recently expanded the pit from about two acres to almost eight acres.

The state permit for the project only covers two acres; a major land-use review also is required whenever an industrial use in the Canyon Area planning jurisdiction expands by more than 25 percent.

Spoklie didn't apply for a review permit or an amended state permit prior to expanding the operation. Consequently, the Flathead County Planning Office has issued a zoning violation letter.

Spoklie now wants a major land-use permit to expand the pit to 25 acres.

More than 60 letters in opposition have come in regarding this proposal.

The planning office recommends that the expansion be denied and that Spoklie be required to reclaim the unpermitted portion of the pit and limit the operation to two acres.

During a Middle Canyon Land Use Advisory Committee meeting last month, the 60 or so people in attendance overwhelmingly requested that the expansion be denied.

Other items on tonight's agenda include:

-The preliminary plat for Holt Fields, a 12-lot single-family subdivision on 16.4 acres at 1925 Holt Stage, just south of Montana 35 and east of Fairmont Road.

The project would have a public water system and individual septics.

-The preliminary plat for Rocky Top, a three-lot single-family subdivision on 5 acres at 121 Horseshoe Drive.

The project would have individual water wells and septic systems.

-The preliminary plat for the resubdivision of Lot 12 of Eagle Crest Bluffs, which would create two lots on 11 acres at 1143 Trappers Creek south of Lakeside.

-The preliminary plat for Whitefish Hills Phase 3, a 22-lot subdivision on 440 acres at 75 Whitefish Hills Drive west of U.S. 93 and southwest of Whitefish.

-The preliminary plat for Abel Ranch, a four-lot single-family subdivision on 61 acres at 361 Farm Road.

All the lots would have individual water wells and septic systems.

The planning board meets in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building in Kalispell, beginning at 6 p.m.