Asphalt batch plants proposed for West Valley
A proposed concrete batch plant and an asphalt batch plant in the West Valley area are the focus of a public hearing Tuesday, July 6, before the Flathead County Board of Adjustment.
Gary Krueger is asking for a conditional-use permit for gravel extraction to allow the batch plants on property owned by Krueger and his wife, Jessica; and Kenneth and Beulah Krueger. The two tracts of land are bordered by Church Drive to the north, West Springcreek Road on the east and Clark Drive on the south.
The concrete batch plant — which would combine, distribute and weigh gravel, sand, water and chemical mixtures such as lye into a mixing truck — would be located on a 12-acre site along West Springcreek Road.
The asphalt batch plant is planned on a tract to the west, and would require mixed aggregates, sand and filler be heated and then mixed with a petroleum-based product resembling tar. It would then be distributed into trucks and hauled to construction sites, according to a Flathead County Planning Office staff report.
A zoning text amendment approved by the county commissioners in April set the stage for the batch-plant requests. That amendment established a definition of gravel extraction that includes asphalt and concrete plants.
Gary Krueger asked for the text amendment after the County Board of Adjustment last year denied his request for a permit to operate a concrete batch plant on land adjacent to his permitted gravel pit in the West Valley Zoning District.
Findings of fact in the Planning Office report indicate the area where the batch plants are proposed lacks any environmental constraints such as nearby seasonal ponds, steep slopes or wildlife habitat for sensitive species.
The report also notes that the asphalt plant would sit at the bottom of the existing permitted gravel pit, which is 25 feet deep and would be bermed to the north with an additional 10 feet.
“The operation of both the asphalt batch plant and the concrete batch plant will create noise and vibration,” the report states, adding that the production of asphalt will create smoke, fumes and odors.
Krueger will be required to get an air-quality permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality, but the report also says that some level of smoke and fumes will leave the property regardless of the level of permitting by the state.
The Planning Office has recommended approval of the conditional-use permit, with 22 conditions that range from vegetative screening on Church Drive to restricting hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with a 6 a.m. start time May through September.
The Board of Adjustment meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.
The Krueger hearing is the last of five public hearings on the agenda. Other hearings include:
n A request by Jeannine Zollinger for a conditional-use permit to allow a family hardship dwelling at 161 West Valley Acres.
n A request by Mary Alice Lapp for a zoning variance on a 3.3-acre parcel at 41 River Road in Evergreen to allow for a future lot division that would be less than the one-acre minimum requirement.
n A request by Daniel Scheffer and Melody Watts for a conditional-use permit to operate a drive-through coffee stand on U.S. 93 in Happy Valley.
n A request by Paul and Virginia DeToni for a zoning variance to the 150-foot setback requirement in the Middle Canyon Zoning District. The property is at 12135 U.S. 2 East in West Glacier.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com