The Kootenai County commissioners will hold a public hearing on Thursday morning to determine if Idaho Forest Group can expand its Chilco Mill by an additional 46 acres, which the company has stated will promote efficiencies and benefit the community.

IFG, which has operated the sawmill north of Chilco Road since 2008, is pursuing a conditional use permit to expand onto two rural parcels north of the existing facility, according to the project narrative.

"Approval of this conditional use permit is in the public interest for numerous reasons," the document reads.

The sawmill sits on a 251.6-acre ownership, the narrative states, and processes logs from North Idaho and Washington that are sold as lumber throughout the world.

The design of the new Abbot Road traversing the mill property, which will also connect to U.S. 95 with an overpass, serves the mill's future growth well, the document adds.

Expanding onto neighboring parcels, according to the narrative, would allow the mill to relocate its parking lot, storage pond and piping network to make room for additional lumber storage.

Expansion would also provide a separate space for truck scales, truck tarping and turnaround to relieve congestion through the log yard.

"It will also reduce emissions because trucks will not be waiting idle for the use of the site, scales, roads and tarping area," the narrative reads.

Increased space would allow for construction of a 130-foot portal crane that would store and water logs more quietly, efficiently and with lower emissions, the document states.

Screening of bark and log yard debris are other uses the mill would pursue. The existing truck shop would be relocated to the CUP area.

The narrative points out that Abbot Road has earthen berms on both sides, creating a visual and sound buffer to the surrounding area.

By relocating low impact uses in the expansion, the document reads, "higher intensity uses in the industrial zone are separated from the encroaching residential uses."

The boosted efficiency of the mill will also keep it competitive, the document adds, important for the mill that employs 226 living wage jobs.

An IFG spokesperson could not be reached on Tuesday afternoon.

A handful of county residents have written to the county in objection to the project.

Athol resident Alma Miller wrote that "Abbott Road is in my back yard, and I don't need this."

The smell of rotting wood prevents her from opening her windows, she wrote.

A letter from Larry and Sandee Tipke, also Athol residents, lists concerns like impacts to water and air quality and property values.

The pair requested studies be conducted by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

The county hearing examiner has recommended approval of the expansion, with conditions like a 6-foot obscuring fence along a portion of the property.

The hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday in the commissioners' chambers in the county administration building.

The commissioners will also hold a hearing afterward over IFG's application for an accompanying variance from a zoning ordinance, requiring buildings be located 1,000 feet from a residence.

Buildings on the mill site are already within that distance of a residential building and plat, according to the variance narrative, which were built after the mill was in operation.

"Literal enforcement of this standard would result in unnecessary hardship on the applicant, as it would prohibit the ability to properly expand the present mill and provide additional jobs in the county," the narrative reads.

The county hearing examiner recommended denial of the variance, as the applicant failed to demonstrate undue hardship that would result from enforcement of the ordinance.