The Daily Inter Lake

Two more West Valley gravel pit proposals come before the Flathead County Board of Adjustment for public hearings on Tuesday.

Both projects are located near the intersection of Farm to Market Road and Church Drive, in an area where two other large gravel pits recently were permitted.

Robert Beasley is requesting a conditional use permit for a 271-acre gravel pit about three-quarters of a mile southwest of the intersection at 3248 Farm to Market.

Paul Tutvedt is requesting a permit for a 153-acre pit just northwest of the intersection off West Valley Drive.

This is the second time Beasley has tried to develop a gravel mine on the Farm to Market property. Last June, the Board of Adjustment invalidated an earlier conditional use permit because the previous landowner failed to comply with the permit conditions.

That permit only covered about 15 acres. Beasley now wants a permit to excavate 200 acres of the 271-acre site. He proposes that no more than 40 acres would be disturbed at any one time.

The Flathead County Planning Office is recommending denial of the application, citing concerns about traffic generation, water quality and other issues.

Water quality is a particular concern in this area because of existing nitrate pollution in the shallow Lost Creek Fan aquifer.

According to the planning staff report, the Beasley mine would excavate down into the aquifer; however, officials with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality have previously indicated that a gravel pit by itself shouldn't affect nitrate levels in the underlying groundwater.

Unlike Beasley's proposal, the Tutvedt pit would not dig into the groundwater. The planning staff report indicates that the water level at that site is at least 65 feet below the surface, whereas the mine would only dig down about 60 feet.

Gravel from the Tutvedt pit would be crushed on site and transported to the LHC facility on Stillwater Road for processing into asphalt and concrete.

The Planning Office recommends approval of Tutvedt's application, subject to numerous conditions.

Tuesday's meeting is in the second-floor conference room in the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. West in Kalispell, beginning at 6 p.m.

Also on the agenda is a conditional use permit for Dancing Fox LLC, which wants to build an 8-unit multifamily dwelling on 0.63 acres at 655 Commerce Street in Bigfork.

The property is in the B-3 community business zoning district, which allows apartments as a conditional use. All of the units would be served by public water and sewer services.