New Gravel Pit Proposed on Cottonwood Lakes Road

SEELEY LAKE - Frank Tabish of LHC Inc. in Kalispell, Mont. has applied for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) with Powell County to operate a 26.5-acre gravel pit within 160 acres four miles east of Highway 83 and south of Cottonwood Lakes Road. Gary Lewis, owner of Deer Creek Aggregates, LLC, will be leasing the pit after it has been developed and sees many benefits of the gravel pit to the area. An opposing group of Double Arrow Ranch landowners feels it will be detrimental to the area.

Powell County is holding a public hearing to take action on the proposed CUP Dec. 8 at 1 p.m. at the Elks Lodge, 230 Main Street Deer Lodge, Mont. See the legal notice for more details on how to submit comment.

Lewis operated a gravel pit on Boy Scout Road for more than 30 years. He said his pit is closed and has been reclaimed. The only other local source of gravel is from John Richards who operates a pit adjacent to the south end of the Double Arrow, south of Seeley Lake on Highway 83.

"We strongly believe there needs to be another pit in town [giving people a choice] and there is no other property available except this piece on Cottonwood Lakes road," said Lewis.

The Birdhead Company, LLC purchased the quarter section this past October with the intent to develop the property for a sand and gravel operation.

In the draft Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Opencut Mining Plan of Operation, the estimated material removed would be 300,000 cubic yards.

Lewis said that this property also has a lot of large rocks for retaining walls, a source that has not been available since Plum Creek sold their land.

The proposed haul route would be the Cottonwood Lakes Road (FS Road 477) to Highway 83 pending a permit and cost-sharing agreement towards road maintenance with the Seeley Lake Ranger District.

The equipment included in the draft Opencut Mining Permit to be used in the permit includes a crusher, pug mill, screen, grizzly and asphalt plant. According to Lewis, the asphalt plant would be used for the Seeley Lake to the Summit highway project that LHC, Inc. intends to bid in 2017.

"After that [project, the pit] will go back to the mom and pop pit we have always had," said Lewis. "The asphalt plant doesn't stay there unless there is another job that requires asphalt but I don't foresee that. I don't want to have anything to do with asphalt."

The hours of operation listed in the plan of operation is Monday-Saturday 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. for all activities including crushing, hauling, loading, maintenance, mining and others not specified. Sundays will only include hauling, loading and maintenance from 6 a.m. – 10 p.m.

"That is not the hours we will run," said Lewis. "I think that is a standard for [LHC, Inc.]. For that time period [on the highway job] they might run that for a month but then they will be done. I don't let people work in the dark. We intend to be good neighbors so we will control that."

The property borders the north end of the Double Arrow in Section 31 of Township 17N, Range 14W. The pit will be in the northeast corner, located as far from the Double Arrow as possible.

"I think it is a win-win for Double Arrow," said Lewis. "They have someone to bid against on the gravel prices. I've offered them a stockpile area because they lost their stockpile on the bottom. It is half way up the Ranch so their trucks won't have to unchain. They will have access to the middle of the Ranch which is where most of the sanding is. They could use that road [Evergreen Drive] that connects to my property to access that pile and park their snowplowing equipment. It would cut the cost of the road maintenance program a bunch because it will cut the cost of the gravel in half."

Lewis also offered the road through his property as a fire emergency exit for Double Arrow landowners.

Another benefit Lewis sees is the required weed management program for the property.

"Right now that property is infested with weeds, mostly knapweed. That would help the Ranch because that bordering property has to be causing problems with them," said Lewis.

Other programs the pit would be required to follow include dust management and reclamation programs.

Lewis said there is a ridge between the pit and the Double Arrow to help block the sound. There will also be berms around the pit and it will be fenced. Once the pit is reclaimed it will offer more benefits to wildlife than the current state of the property.

A group of landowners opposing the gravel pit are concerned that Evergreen Drive will be used to transport material out to Highway 83 through Double Arrow. They also do not want a gravel pit in their back yard.

Lewis said that the only time his gravel trucks would use Evergreen Drive, a public road according to the Double Arrow plat map, is if he is hauling material for the Double Arrow. This will save wear on the chip seal that gravel trucks currently have to travel across to get to where the trucks would start should they use him as their gravel supplier.

A letter to the Powell County Planning Department written by the opposing group states, "We feel that opencut mining and hauling operations will cause significant noise, dust and traffic, negatively impacting our quality of life and our property values."

The letter goes on to address several points of discussion.

They first identified the proposed pit as a public nuisance as defined by Montana Code Annotated (MCA) 45-8-111.

Second, they don't feel the pit is in the spirit of zoning regulations.

The Double Arrow is platted as a large (720 lots) residential community. Missoula County Zoning Resolution Chapter 3 states that mining and sand and gravel extraction is not permitted in a residential zoning district. While it does not apply precisely, the group feels that in its intent, it is inappropriate to put a gravel pit next to a residential area. They are asking Powell County, since they do not have the same zoning requirements, to decide the permit based on state law.

MCA 76-2-203 states that zoning regulations must be made compatible with zoning regulations of nearby municipalities. MCA 76-2-209 states that mining gravel and sand or mixing concrete or batching asphalt may be reasonably conditioned or banned within a geographic area zoned residential.

While Double Arrow is not zoned, the group feels it is the intent of the zoning regulations and state law that will be violated should the pit be approved. The opposing group feels the Powell County Growth Policy also supports this claim on land adjacent to a large residential community.

Third, they do not feel this is appropriate use of the land and is inconsistent with the plans to protect and conserve the watershed, habitats and wildlife. They state a variety of public agencies, conservation groups and landowners have invested millions of dollars to enhance and conserve the watershed. They are also concerned with dewatering and how the water that fills the pit in the spring will be handled.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wildlife biologist Scott Eggeman said that the proposed pit is adjacent to a migratory route for deer and elk but it's not going to disrupt the migration. The pit is out of lynx habitat and, while there are grizzly bears in the area, Eggeman thinks they will just avoid the area.

"From a terrestrial wildlife habitat perspective, there isn't a ton of concern," said Eggeman. "There may be some minor disturbance but nothing so impactful that it has to stop."

Swamp Creek bisects the property and Trail Creek runs through the adjoining property. FWP Fisheries Biologist Ladd Knotek said this watershed supports one of the most important native trout strongholds for bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in western Montana. He still needs to review the complete application because a lot of the details are still unclear. He intends on looking into the specifics and making comment to Powell County prior to the public hearing.

"This is a sensitive area and we need to be careful. We will need to address where and how activities occur so we don't compromise the work [restoration and other activities to protect and enhance native fish populations and the natural character of the watershed] that has already been done," said Knotek who acknowledged the area has already experienced a lot of disturbance.

"There is a legal setback [from creeks] that you have to follow with gravel pits. We are abiding by all that," said Lewis.

Finally, the opposing group said introducing a gravel pit into a residential area radically reduces the value of properties near the site. They cite the study "Summary Analysis: Impact of Operations Gravel Pit on House Values, Delaware County, Ohio" by Diane Hite and a report by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research's report "An Assessment of the Economic Impact of the proposed Stoneco Gravel Mine Operation on Richland Township."

This report states that property values directly adjacent to a gravel operation are reduced 30 percent, property values one mile away falls 14.5 percent, two miles away property values are reduced 8.9 percent and values for property up to three miles away drop 4.9 percent.

The Double Arrow Landowners Association (DARLOA) Board of Directors sent a letter to all the landowners dated Nov. 4 stating that they will not take a formal position on the CUP because they do not believe it is a prudent use of their resources to delve into property uses outside Double Arrow's borders. They also do not anticipate increased use on their roads since the main hauling route would be the Cottonwood Lakes Road.

Finally, they referenced Richard's existing gravel pit on the south end of the Double Arrow stating there has been no complaints about those gravel trucks on the roads and there is no evidence that the gravel pit has negatively influenced property values. They also recognized that there may be benefits to having another gravel pit in the area.

The opposing group is asking Powell County to deny the permit. However, if it is approved they are asking that the permit state that no commercial or heavy equipment will be trafficked on Evergreen Drive and the hours be restricted to 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"We've done everything we possibility can to be a good neighbor. That's what we are trying to do," said Lewis who met with the DARLOA board and adjacent landowners in August before the property was purchased. "I really believe that we need a second pit in Seeley Lake."