After continuing a hearing from last week, the Kootenai County commissioners voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve Coeur d'Alene Paving's request to rezone 116 acres near the state line from agriculture to mining.

The rezone on the acreage just west of Stateline Speedway will allow the company to conduct mining and rock crushing operations there, and to seek a permit to move its asphalt batch plant there from the heavily protested Rathdrum location.

The company plans to file an application soon for a permit to relocate the plant, said company co-owner Craig Cozad.

"This is a long, drawn-out process," Cozad said, noting that the company will face two more county hearings over the permit. "We didn't set out with any goals (for a timeline). We knew they would all be broken."

Property owners near the site objected on Wednesday as they had at last week's hearing, with concerns of noise, traffic, pollution and affected property values.

But the commissioners, who conducted a site visit on Friday, deemed the several industrial and mining uses nearby make the property a fitting spot to expand mining operations.

"This is the best area for something nobody wants. I do think that," Commissioner Dan Green said.

The rezone is stipulated on the signing of a conditional zoning development agreement, and on Coeur d'Alene Paving purchasing the property from owner Beck Family Trust.

Cozad assured those would be the company's next steps, before applying for a special notice permit for the asphalt plant.

"We're real happy with their decision," Cozad said.

Beck Family Trust had authorized the company to seek a rezone before purchasing the land.

Opponents of the rezone like Post Falls resident Hayley Lake had insisted the commissioners add more stringent requirements to the proposed conditional zoning agreement, which sets standards for operations on the rezoned property.

The commissioners did so on Wednesday, going line by line on the several paged contract.

They established a number of new requirements, including restricting the hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday for mining, crushing, screening and aggregate washing activities. A 15-foot high berm will be required along the southern and western borders of the site in accordance with the project phases.

The company must also keep a 50-foot buffer between the bottom of a mining pit and the aquifer, and keep a 50-foot setback along all property boundaries.

The company must heed the Department of Environmental Quality on air quality regulations, and the Department of Lands for reclamation.

Commissioner Todd Tondee said the hours of operation should address noise issues, and pointed out that neighbors already deal with that.

"There's a lot of noise in there, with the speedway and other mining operations," Tondee said.

Some Idaho and Washington residents testified that they were opposed to the rezone, no matter what.

If the commissioners approved the request, warned Frank Flanigan of Newman Lake, Wash., "you're going to see us again, but it'll be in a different atmosphere," he testified before the officials' vote.

But Lake said she was pleased with the commissioners' added restrictions on the rezoned property.

"It wasn't all good, but it wasn't all bad," she said after the vote. "If it's going to happen, it's got to be done right."