It helps to spell out conditions up front.

After a three-hour hearing on Thursday, the Kootenai County commissioners remanded to the hearing examiner a request by Coeur d'Alene Paving to rezone some state line property, where the company plans to relocate an asphalt batch plant.

The applicants must present a modified request to the examiner, the commissioners directed, that includes a development agreement spelling out how the property will be mitigated under certain uses.

"I'll not make a motion to approve a zone change without that development agreement," said Commissioner Dan Green during the hearing at the county Administration Building.

Coeur d'Alene Paving applied to rezone 116 acres off Beck Road from agriculture to mining, which would allow the company to move its Rathdrum asphalt plant there.

The company had assured the rezone would follow with an application for a special notice permit, creating conditions for the asphalt plant.

But the rezone needs parameters all its own, the commissioners agreed.

"If the asphalt batch plant were to go away, no conditions would be on the zone change," Tondee said, pointing out that a mining zone allows for activities like rock crushing. "Things like depth of mine and reclamation are zone specific, mining specific."

Coeur d'Alene Paving will have 90 days to initiate the conditional agreement.

The proposal will be heard by the commissioners again after it goes before the examiner.

Co-owner Todd Kaufman said he wasn't surprised, since the hearing examiner had suggested such an agreement earlier.

"We're fine with it," he said.

During the hearing, company spokesperson Steve Syrcle emphasized that the state line property is ideal for the plant, since several mining-related operations already exist nearby.

That isn't the case with the plant's current location off Highway 53, he said, where it sits close to a multitude of residences.

"Coeur d'Alene Paving wants to find a new home (for its plant)," Syrcle said.

Residents near the state line were split on the proposal.

Lynn Humphreys, who farms in and around mining zones near the property, pointed out that much of mining property is kept open.

"We would be messing up if we didn't keep it all in the same area," he testified.

Charles Ellis, who lives in Newman Lake, Wash. on Stateline Road, said he worried how fumes from an asphalt plant would affect his family.

"The main thing is the health issue and our quality of life," he said. "I'm not talking just three years from now, but 20 years from now, because this will be sitting in our backyards."

Brian Wallace with East Valley School District in Washington said the district has fielded many phone calls from parents concerned about the impacts to East Farms Elementary School, which sits within a mile of the property.

If the rezone has no conditions, the district opposes the proposal, Wallace said.

"We're supporting the concerns of our parents," he said.

Joyce Flanigan, who testified similar worries about risks to health and community, was pleased the commissioners asked for a conditional agreement.

"We will have more input on how they operate," she approved.

The acreage up for rezoning is currently owned by the Beck Family Trust. The owner has agreed to sell to Coeur d'Alene Paving if the company obtains both a rezone and a permit for the asphalt plant, Kaufman said.

"The previous commissioners and Tondee told us to look for another site, not exposed to neighbors, with like uses around us," he said, referring to conditions set last year. "That's why we're here, to try and find a better location."