SANDPOINT — Cross appeals are being filed in the Idaho Supreme Court to end a lawsuit over a proposed asphalt batch plant in Sagle.

Attorneys for Frank Linscott, Bonner County and Interstate Concrete & Asphalt each filed the cross appeals late last month and in early April, according to 1st District Court records.

The questions raised in the cross appeals filed by counsels for Linscott and Interstate are identical.

They question whether Judge Jeff Brudie erred in concluding that Citizens Against Linscott/Interstate, an unincorporated nonprofit, qualifies as an affected person under Idaho’s Local Land Use Planning Act which has a bona fide interest in real property which may be adversely impacted.

The cross appeal also questions whether Citizens have standing to bring the action in light of an Idaho Code amendment which holds that associations are entities separate and distinct from its members.

Those cross appeals further question whether the lower court was correct in finding that Citizens filed the action within the 28-day window and whether the action was timely resubmitted after it was rejected in the state’s digital filing system.

The appeals also question Brudie’s finding that Citizens were not required to serve Linscott when they filed their petition for judicial review.

The county’s cross appeal, meanwhile, questions whether Brudie was correct in finding that Citizens was prevented from filing its petition due to circumstances outside the group’s control. It also challenges the denial of the county’s motion to dismiss the petition and whether Citizens filed within the 28-day deadline.

The cross appeals emerged after Citizens appealed to the high court to overturn Brudie’s dismissal of the petition for review.

Citizens filed the petition last year, after Bonner County commissioners rejected an administrative appeal of the county’s approval of a plan to relocate Interstate’s asphalt plant in Sandpoint to Frank Linscott’s surface mine on the west side of U.S. Highway 95 north of Gun Club Road.

An asphalt plant has operated at the gravel pit intermittently over the years under temporary permits, drawing objections from neighboring and nearby landowners who said the operation jeopardized water and air quality, in addition to spoiling the ambiance of rural neighborhoods in the vicinity of the pit.

Plant supporters dispute those claims and contend that the facility has operated in Sandpoint without receiving complaints or violating water and air quality standards.

The struggle is shaping up to be one of the most contentious land use disputes in modern Bonner County history.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.