Procedure errors affect gravel issues

Flathead County is batting 0-for-2 with gravel pit issues in the last two weeks, due to procedural errors by the board of adjustment, planning board and planning office.

The board of adjustment set the early pace, botching a conditional use permit for a new West Valley gravel pit.

Following a contentious, two-hour public hearing on May 3, the board president unilaterally tabled the issue without allowing a vote.

At a bare minimum, fixing that error will require that a second public hearing be held.

However, it also turns out that the original permit application was incomplete - meaning the planning office shouldn't have accepted it or scheduled a hearing in the first place.

Given that more information will have to be provided to complete the application, the proposal might have to start over entirely, going back before the West Valley Land Use Advisory Committee as well as the board of adjustment.

Furthermore, three of the board's five members have now indicated that they could abstain, meaning there wouldn't be a quorum available to vote on the permit.

"We're trying to figure out what the hell to do," said Deputy County Attorney Jonathan Smith. "We've never had a situation like this before."

Board members Gina Klempel and Mark Hash recused themselves from the issue on May 3. Now, after being accused at that meeting of having "already made up his mind," David Van Dort may do the same whenever the permit comes back before the board.

(Van Dort vigorously denied the accusation on May 3, saying he made it explicitly clear that he could not discuss any agenda item prior to the public hearing. However, he also is a member of the West Valley committee and previously voted in favor of the permit during its hearing.)

If the conditional use permit is ever approved, it would allow a 320-acre gravel mine to operate at the intersection of Farm to Market Road and Church Drive.

One week after the board of adjustment hearing, the planning board bobbled its handling of a zoning text amendment related to gravel pits.

On May 11, the board unanimously voted to deny the amendment, which would have defined the SAG-5 and SAG-10 zoning districts as residential.

By state law, gravel pits can be conditioned or prohibited in residential zoning districts. They can only be conditioned, but not denied, in all other zoning districts.

However, immediately after denying the amendment, the board voted 5-3 to table the issue for another week. The board seemed willing to restrict the location of new gravel pits, but wanted to see exactly where the SAG-5 and SAG-10 zones are located before taking that step.

On Thursday, the county attorney's office determined that the second vote was inappropriate. Consequently, the text amendment will go to the commissioners with a negative recommendation.

During a meeting with the county commissioners, interim Planning Director Johna Morrison suggested that all of the county boards and land use advisory committees get some procedural training.

The commissioners also indicated that a county attorney might start attending some of these meetings - at least whenever anything related to gravel pits was on the agenda.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com