County seeks way out of gravel 'quagmire'
By WILLIAM L. SPENCE
The Daily Inter Lake
Local planning officials still are struggling to fix a flawed zoning-text amendment, almost a year after it was approved by the Flathead County commissioners.
The amendment greatly expanded the number of zoning districts at which new gravel pits could be prohibited.
However, it also inadvertently affected thousands of acres in remote rural locations.
"I think when the amendment was adopted, it created a real quagmire for us," said Jeff Larsen, Flathead County Planning Board president. "We're in a situation now where we have unintended consequences because the amendment wasn't thought out."
Larsen made the comments during Wednesday's regular Planning Board meeting, during which several options were considered to fix the amendment.
The board ultimately couldn't agree on a revision. It voted to continue action on this item until the county planning staff could suggest an alternative.
Last year's amendment gave the county the authority to prohibit or impose conditions on new gravel mines in any zoning district that allows single-family homes and similar residential uses as a permitted use.
Previously, new mines could be prohibited only in the R residential zoning districts.
The new language meant that gravel pits could be prohibited in suburban agricultural districts such as SAG-5 and SAG-10 - as well as in large-lot agricultural districts and in the unique, 38,000-acre West Valley Zoning District.
"The problem that arose by this simple thing the county did is that they made more than 8,000 acres of our land residential," said Ron Buentemeier, general manager of F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co., during Wednesday's hearing.
Together with other members of the county's Open-Cut Mining Advisory Committee, Buentemeier recommended changing last year's amendment to clarify that the AG-20, AG-40 and AG-80 agricultural zones are not residential districts.
That didn't resolve the problem with the company's West Valley property, though, because that area has a unique zoning designation.
Consequently, he proposed additional language that would prevent mines from being prohibited "on forest or agricultural lands of 15 contiguous acres or greater [in size]," as long as they were assessed as timber or agricultural lands.
The Planning Board and staff all agreed that the AG-40 and AG-80 districts - which have 40- and 80-acre minimum lot sizes, respectively - weren't residential districts.
However, the staff balked at excluding the AG-20 district, saying it frequently serves as a large-lot residential zone.
The "15 contiguous acres" language was even more troubling, because it didn't refer to a specific zoning district and created a potential conflict within the zoning regulations.
For example, the staff said it's possible that someone owns 15 contiguous acres of timberland within an R residential zoning district. If Buentemeier's language were approved, then one section of the zoning regulations would say a gravel pit could be prohibited on those 15 acres - because they were in a residential district - while another section said the pit couldn't be prohibited.
Greg Stevens, representing the Montana Contractors Association, suggested additional language that might have resolved this internal conflict, but the planning staff still thought it was inappropriate to muddle the regulations by referring to something that wasn't a zoning district.
The board seemed sympathetic to both points of view and asked the planning office to come up with some alternative language that made everyone happy.
In other action on Wednesday, the Planning Board:
. Recommended approval of a zone change from R-1 suburban residential to R-3 one-family limited residential for 1.4 acres at 502 Maple Drive, in the Evergreen Zoning District.
. Continued action on the preliminary plat for the resubdivision of Lot 1 of Subdivision 123, which would create four single-family lots on 20 acres at 1100 Spring Hill Road in Kila.
The Planning Board was dissatisfied with the planning staff report, which failed to include conditions of approval, and delayed its decision until some conditions could be developed.
. Recommended denial of the preliminary plat of Oak Tree Estates, a 25-lot single-family subdivision proposed on 59 acres at 2665 Columbia Falls Stage Road, just north of Trapp Road.
Board members thought the proposed lot sizes were too small and inconsistent with the character of the area.