After this asphalt plant is in, good luck trying to get rid of it.
Night work, along with the smell of asphalt will permeate the area, and don't forget about the many chemicals in the air.
The lawyer has two areas he thinks can change the asphalt plant from being here but we need support.
HE HAS TO FILE ON THE 19TH, IN 2 DAYS!
When giving, please adjust the tip down to zero so we get all the funds please, gofundme, automatically puts it at 15% so we lose out on that money.
We have to know the support we will have in the future and need to see people giving to stop this asphalt plant.
We have two very strong cases to battle in a Judicial Review.
1. In April and May, Bonner County sent out public notice claiming they were going to change the resource base code "amend and expand uses of gravel pits in industrial zones" and with that summary ended up adding an asphalt plant can go in rural, agriculture and forest with an active gravel pit. This was illegally done, and did not give proper notice to the community to battle this change.
2. In 1981, Linscott pit was grandfathered in, and Linscott was 18 acres at the time, the ordinance says he can legally grow 10% and up to 50% with a permit. Linscott has grown to 100 acres with NO permit and also has also expanded his gravel pit to two other parcels. This is illegal and yet NO ONE is forcing him to follow the laws of Bonner County.
Just recently we found in public records that Interstate has illegally been digging aggregate also out of the Linscott pit since 1993 and illegally surface mining without a permit. ILLEGAL!
Linscott also has been out of compliance with the Department of Lands since 1998 and they have given him until April 30th to comply. We have no idea how they will proceed but have to assume they will pay the fees and continue on their quest to build an asphalt plant.
We need pressure to be put on the Bonner County Planning Department to force Linscott and Interstate to follow the laws of Idaho and the Bonner County Comp Plan. The gravel pit should be shut down right now as it's out of compliance and it also is not legal because of the nonconforming land ordinance and running without a permit.
The conditional use permit for the asphalt plant clearly says if the Linscott pit is not active, the asphalt plant cannot be placed on it.
Let's work at getting Linscott shut down, he isn't legally running.
We believe the growth of the surface mine is beyond legal, and because it has grown well beyond the law, the gravel put should be shut down and closed.
We have been told the surface mine is a separate issue and not part of the nonconforming land but that is NOT TRUE.
It clearly says in the nonconforming land use ordinance for Bonner County that if a surface mine is not active for two years, the grandfather rights are removed, proving our point, that nonconforming land use ordinance does cover surface mines.
Also being claimed is the BC planning department or County Commissioners are claiming they have nothing to do with this issue and that only the Department of Lands are in control, this is not true.
Conditional use permits(CUP) are a land use issue and neither Linscott or Interstate have a CUP to have a surface mine, because we have established above the surface mine has illegally grown, so should be shut down because he is not in compliance with the law.
To be compliant Linscott and Interstate both would need a CUP to continue legally.
Please contact Bonner County Planning Department at 208-265-1458 and tell them you would like to see the same laws that apply to you or anyone applied to Linscott and Interstate.
Everyone who has a surface mine is required to have a conditional use permit and neither of them do and Lincott does not follow under the grandfather clause any longer due to his size and his expansion.
We need funds to battle this and pressure to be placed on the right places to get this stopped.
If we receive your funds and they are not used we will return them so please donate because after this is over, nothing can be done.