Lawsuit targets W. Glacier gravel decision

The Flathead County commissioners were sued Wednesday over a decision that blocked the operation of a West Glacier gravel pit.

The lawsuit was filed by former state representative Robert Spoklie, who owns the pit. It names the county and the Board of Commissioners as defendants.

Last fall, Spoklie requested a major land-use permit to expand the mine, which is located on Belton Stage Road just outside Glacier National Park.

The Flathead County Planning Board recommended approval of the permit, subject to a variety of conditions, including limiting the active extraction area to two acres, limiting the overall work area to less than eight acres - roughly the same size it has been for a decade or more - and requiring periodic reclamation as the operation proceeds.

Spoklie reportedly had no problem with these conditions.

When the commissioners took up the request last month, however, they not only denied the expansion permit, they also concluded that the pit no longer qualified as a "grandfathered" use - meaning the whole operation had to shut down.

The lawsuit challenges this action on a number of grounds.

-First, Spoklie says the pit has been in operation continuously ever since the Canyon Area zoning was adopted in 1994. Consequently, it never lost its grandfathered status.

This question was a major point of contention during public hearings on the pit expansion.

Opponents said the operation was idle for more than a year - more than enough for it to lose its grandfathered status.

The former mine owner also submitted paperwork to the state indicating that no mining activity took place from 1995 to 2004.

After Spoklie acquired the property, though, amended paperwork was filed, together with affidavits, suggesting that some minimal gravel sales had taken place annually.

The Flathead County zoning administrator, who normally would rule on questions of this sort, declined to do so in this case. Consequently, it was left up to the commissioners to determine whether the grandfathering was relevant or not.

They ended up basing their unanimous decision largely on this item.

"We have annual reports from [the previous owner] where they took the trouble to hand-write, 'We've done nothing with this pit in the past year,'" Commissioner Joe Brenneman said. "I think there's insignificant evidence that grandfathering exists."

However, the state does not require ongoing excavation for a mine to be considered active. Even if it takes years to sell off an existing stockpile, the project still qualifies as an "active" gravel operation, at least from the state's perspective.

"The property did not lose its grandfathered status," the lawsuit maintained. "Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment, declaring that the commissioners and the Flathead County Planning Office actions are invalid, null and void, as well as arbitrary and capricious."

-The lawsuit also said the commissioners don't have the authority to prohibit gravel extraction, given that the Belton Stage area isn't specifically zoned residential.

State law gives local governments the ability to prohibit gravel mines in residential zoning districts, but only allows them to impose reasonable conditions in all other zoning districts.

The commissioners tried to sidestep this language last year when they approved a zoning text amendment - specifically for the purposes of regulating gravel pits - that says any zoning district is considered residential as long as it lists homes as a permitted use.

The Montana Contractors Association filed a lawsuit over this language last fall. However, they never officially served the action and withdrew it to give a county-appointed advisory board time to recommend changes to the text.

Spoklie's lawsuit says the text amendment "clearly ignores the spirit and letter" of the state law.

The lawsuit also questions how the commissioners managed to "turn the process for review of an expanded use permit into a process for deciding the grandfathered status of the gravel pit operation."

It asks for a preliminary injunction against the county, allowing mining and gravel sales operations to continue until the case is decided. It also asks for the declaratory judgment, actual damages, costs and attorney's fees.

Deputy County Attorney Jonathan Smith had not seen the lawsuit as of Friday and declined to comment.

This is the sixth time in the last 15 months that Flathead County has been sued over gravel pits.

Had the county made it through February without getting sued in a land-use case, it would have matched its longest lawsuit-free period since at least the beginning of 2003. It's been six months since the last land-use lawsuit was filed.

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