KALISPELL — On Tuesday night, a decision on a conditional use permit for a proposed gravel pit in the West Valley area of Kalispell was postponed.
Watch the full story here:
The Flathead County Board of Adjustment made a motion to send the agenda item back to the West Valley Land Use Advisory Committee to review findings and receive a recommendation.
The West Valley Land Use Advisory Committee had canceled its meeting two weeks ago due to a lack of quorum.
The 160-acre gravel extraction operation is proposed by Bruce Tutvedt on behalf of LHC Incorporated on his property on Farm to Market Road in Kalispell.
“If we approve an asphalt plant in the middle of a 100 residential homes, there will be no precedent to deny that kind of operation in any other Montana community,” said West Valley resident Lauren Terrett.
Terrett was one of dozens of West Valley residents prepared to give public comment Tuesday night against the proposed gravel pit.
Concerns include gravel pit dust, air emissions, noise, truck traffic, safety of children, and more.
“The Farm to Market Road is a thoroughfare highway to Whitefish and to Kalispell downtown, and to have trucks when we already have a gravel pit on Farm to Market, so to double the commercial traffic on that road is very dangerous when we have our buses actually stopping on Farm to Market to pick up children,” said Terrett.
The county conference room was packed with West Valley residents, including Ehren Hart, who lives less than three miles from the proposed site.
Hart was pleased to see the board of adjustment send the agenda item back to the West Valley Land Use Advisory Committee for review.
“They are neighbors of ours; this is an appointed committee of folks that live in our neighborhoods and live next to us that will be able to review this against the current laws and regulations that we have in place and make the right decision for our community,” said Hart.
Hart is worried about potential groundwater contamination for West Valley residents if the gravel pit is approved.
“I think there is a very large concern around the water in the West Valley area; we all live off of well systems that are all very well-connected underground and I think that is a very big concern for a lot of residents,” added Hart.
The advisory committee is scheduled to meet on the matter next month before the vote goes back in front of the board of adjustment in December.
MTN's attempts to reach Bruce Tutvedt for comment were unsuccessful.
