COEUR d'ALENE - The asphalt plant has to go.

Eventually.

After a court-remanded hearing and several deliberations this month, Kootenai County commissioners voted 2-1 on Thursday to uphold their original decision on the operating time frame for the controversial asphalt batch plant in Rathdrum.

As they did last April, officials granted Coeur d'Alene Paving a one-year permit with the option of a one-year extension, during which the company must search for a new site that isn't as close to housing.

The big changes the commissioners made - in an effort to meet the terms of the court remand - are new conditions to prevent Coeur d'Alene Paving Inc. from using a loophole to keep its plant on the Highway 53 site permanently.

"The permit is valid for a maximum of two years. After that, the permit is null and void," said Commissioner Todd Tondee. "There's no opportunity for another extension. You can't come in and say, 'We still need the job and need an extension.' It's over."

Commissioners Tondee and Rich Piazza agreed that in the past year the paving company has adequately mitigated impacts like odor and noise, and met health standards set by the Panhandle Health District and the Department of Environmental Quality.

The two commissioners had doubts about the frequent complaints from residents of the housing subdivision a mile away.

"Eight-six percent of complaints are from the same five individuals," Tondee said, citing DEQ reports.

But Commissioner Rick Currie, who voted against the permit, said he thought the site was just as incompatible as the commissioners had deemed it a year ago.

"I do not think they've mitigated," he said, adding he wouldn't vote in favor of anything supporting the project's current location.

The new conditions for Coeur d'Alene Paving include an expiration date on the permit of May 1, 2011, if the extension is approved.

To obtain the extension, the company must submit proof of its efforts to relocate, including an application for a permit to move the plant and records of working with Realtors to find a new site.

Since the plant has already been running for a year, the commissioners requested the company apply for the one-year extension immediately.

"Realistically, the year is up. We need to get moving on the extension," Tondee said.

Planning Director Scott Clark will decide whether to grant the extension, without an additional hearing before the commissioners.

Clark's decision can be appealed.

The commissioners also stipulated that the company must submit evidence of using odor neutralizer, and install another sound barrier on the site within 60 days of obtaining an extension.

Tiny Wilson, a neighbor of the plant who led community protest against the project, said he worried how well the new conditions would be enforced.

"To us, it's a big joke and it shouldn't ever have gone this far. We knew that from the start," he said. "There's a final deadline on something that should have never gone through."

Attorney Dana Wetzel, representing one of the Rathdrum residents who appealed the commissioners' original decision, said she couldn't comment on the new decision until a district court deems that it met the requirements of the remand.

Craig Cozad, co-owner of Coeur d'Alene Paving, said he considered the decision to be in line with the remand.

"It would have been nice if they made the permit permanent, but we understand the neighbors' concerns," Cozad said.

Although he was confident the company will meet the requirements for an extension, he has concerns about finding a new location, he said.

The company was looking for two years before it found the current Rathdrum site, he said.

"They (the commissioners) did what they had to do, and we'll keep looking," he said.