A dozen neighbors turned up Wednesday at the commissioners' weekly public meeting - just as they've done the previous two weeks - to urge local officials to set a date for a public hearing on interim zoning. The commissioners will consider the issue this coming Wednesday.
Time is of the essence. Public comment on an open-cut mining and gravel permit pending before the state Department of Environmental Quality closes Dec. 21 - following two extensions. A final environmental assessment is due out after the first of the year.
But even after two hours of testimony this week, neighbors refused to leave without answers. At one point, they pulled out their calendars and asked commissioners to pick a date for a hearing.
“What's it going to take?” asked Michelle Lundquist.
“It's a huge victory,” said Myra Shults, a neighbor leading the charge against the gravel operation. “I was much happier at the end of the meeting than I was at the beginning. This is better than nothing.”
However, Ken Allen, who owns the land where the gravel pit is proposed, was not in attendance Wednesday and was surprised to hear that the commissioners were persuaded by the group's persistence.
“They've been in there three weeks in a row raising heck,” he said. “The commissioners are giving them too many shots on this.”
Interim zoning may be the only way to keep JTL Group Inc. from digging a 30-acre gravel pit in the hayfield eight miles south of Missoula along U.S. Highway 93. The pit will eventually become a lake, planners say, surrounded by a high-end housing development.
Interim zoning, in essence, halts new development - maintaining the status quo - until a more permanent zoning plan can be determined.
However, interim zoning only applies in emergencies.
Whether this gravel pit constitutes an emergency is what the commissioners must decide next Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Missoula County Courthouse Annex.
“They are giving these people some hope,” Allen said. “From what I've been told, there is no hope.”
Allen's not concerned about next week's meeting, but does plan to attend.
He said he's steered clear of any public meeting up to this point to “stay out of the direct line of fire of these people. They are a very hostile group.”
If the project is delayed, he said, JTL could lose upward of $1 million. JTL plans to use the gravel on a state repaving project along Highway 93 between Lolo and Missoula, which is scheduled to begin this spring.
“If the project is delayed, (JTL) will sue,” Allen said. “They will bring in their top-notch corporate attorneys and (Missoula County) won't win. The county knows that.”
The county is researching whether interim zoning would lead to spot zoning, which is illegal, or whether interim zoning would actually affect JTL's proposed project because the ball is already rolling on it.
Gallatin County commissioners recently rejected an interim zoning request by neighbors who wanted to halt a number of gravel pits proposed for the Gallatin Gateway and Amsterdam-Churchill areas.
In Ravalli County, commissioners twice in two years adopted interim zoning.
Ravalli County froze all big-box style development to examine commercial zoning along Highway 93 after Wal-Mart showed interest in setting up shop there.
Then in November, Ravalli County voters adopted interim zoning and the commissioners again agreed. The interim zoning limited density to one home per two acres.
At that time, according to the resolution, the emergency in Ravalli County consisted of high growth rates, large pending subdivision applications and public safety.
“None of us think it's a good idea to put a gravel pit next to residences,” Commissioner Bill Carey said, “but we need to say it's legally defensible.”
Involving Missoula County in an expensive lawsuit that the county may not win is not in the best interest of all taxpayers, Curtiss said.
“What we keep hearing is you want to put residential zoning on Mr. Allen's property,” she said. “The decision shouldn't be based on emotion, and that's what we're hearing right now.”
Though some residents took offense at that comment, Shults said the group plans to come armed strictly with facts next week.
“(Interim zoning) should happen,” Shults said. “If it doesn't happen, there will be safety and health effects.”
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at Chelsi.Moy@missoulian.com
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