Two gravel pit owners file lawsuits
Flathead County has been sued twice in the last week over disputes related to gravel pits.
Flathead County has been sued twice in the last week over disputes related to gravel pits.
Both lawsuits were filed by gravel pit owners who want to remove certain conditions that were imposed on their operations by the Flathead County Board of Adjustment.
The first lawsuit, filed by Ron Klempel and KSG Holdings, names Zoning Administrator Jeff Harris and Flathead County as defendants. It seeks to invalidate two conditions related to a 38-acre gravel pit on Coverdell Road, near Bigfork.
One condition requires Klempel to rebuild 2,850 feet of Coverdell Road to county standards, after which the county would pave the road. The second condition says no gravel shall be removed from the pit until the road reconstruction is completed.
Klempel initially agreed to these conditions with the understanding that the county would quickly uphold its part of the agreement.
However, the county later discovered that Coverdell Road is actually a private road. Consequently, it's unwilling to pave the road unless and until it assumes ownership.
Klempel's lawsuit argues that it's unreasonable to prohibit any removal of sand or gravel until this issue is resolved.
The lawsuit indicates that Klempel is looking for an amicable resolution to this issue. It says the legal action was only filed was because of a 30-day time limit on appeals.
"The appellants are hopeful that the Board of Adjustment may amend its conditional-use permit, making this appeal unnecessary - in which case the appellants will move to withdraw this appeal," the lawsuit says.
A second legal action was filed on Wednesday by the Tutvedt Family Partnership. It names the Board of Adjustment as defendant.
The partnership recently applied for and received a conditional-use permit for a 320-acre gravel pit in the West Valley area, at the intersection of Farm to Market Road and Church Drive.
However, in response to public concerns about water and air quality, the board added a condition that prohibits asphalt or concrete batch plants from operating in the pit.
The partnership is suing to remove that condition.
Given that this area wasn't zoned residential at the time the permit was approved, the lawsuit says the asphalt and concrete plants couldn't legally be denied "insofar as this prohibits the petitioners' complete use, development or recovery of sand and gravel."
State laws says gravel pits and their related operations can only be prohibited in residential zoning districts. In all other districts, only "reasonable conditions" can be imposed.
Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com.