SEND LETTERS BY AUG 20 AT MIDNIGHT AND PLEASE COME AUG 27TH AT 5:30 BONNER COUNTY BUILDING.

Please take a moment to write planning@bonnercountyid.govregarding AM0011-20 the new mining ordinance.
Here is mine letter:
Bonner County Planning Commissioners regarding AM0011-20,

Please vote against AM0011-20! It is truly illegal and will cause lawsuits due to not giving the public due process by taking away the public input and debate. It would be crazy to allow one person in Bonner County, an unelected official, to make decisions that could impact a communities health, their property, or their property values.
As per Gary Allen, Givens Pursley, the law firm who wrote the Idaho Land Use Handbook said after reading the amendment - “this is irresponsible of the county to allow this and I expect many lawsuits to come from this.”
The legals, dated July 28th, 2020 for this hearing is vague and unclear making this hearing invalid and unlawful as well as the recently decided AM161-18 in which was found to be unlawfully adopted due to unclear language of the legals, not giving the public the correct and clear information so the public would know to come and give their input. Also public written comments are restricted per the legals printed on July 28th, requiring public written comments to be in to the county within 7 days prior to the hearings, yet the details and staff report documentation are not even added to the website for anyone to review until 7 days prior, allowing the public ZERO time to go over any documentation or staff reports prior to their written statement because they happen the same day. The legals dated for July 28th, for this amendment should be clear and should say this amendment would allow the planning director, with his signature, the right for gravel pits to have asphalt plants/concrete plants/retail sales/rock crushing, with only a signature, without any public hearings or input.
Bonner County has 89 gravel pits with reclamation plans according to Idaho Department of Lands, plus we have 10 to 15% without one, so that means we have approximately 100 gravel pits here in Bonner County and most have been here for 5 years, making any of them cleared to possibly become “permanent” by the planning director, allowing any or all of them to have asphalt plants on them. The amendment also indicates the gravel pits do not have to be ACTIVE, and without having to be ACTIVE, it means actually more would qualify for “permanent” status, so we could, in truth, have over 100 asphalt plants in Bonner County. Of course, do I think this will happen? No, but the possibility is there and we don’t know which of these gravel pits would end up with asphalt plants with ZERO INPUT and ZERO KNOWLEDGE from the public and in which neighborhoods - until the wonderful sounds, smells, and backlash of an asphalt plant is felt on a community that was NOT informed or had zero input on the decision being made.
Do we, Bonner County, want to allow one person, the planning director, the rights to decide which and where these asphalt plants should go, without the due process and input from neighbors, businesses, and input from the public? I hope NOT. Without the input, it gives the county a problem with major liability as well because the planning director will hold the power of deciding the fate and health of an area, the fate and value of the homes in an area, because it has been proven many are have sensitive health issues with asphalt, and it has also been proven by studies that property values drop in areas where an asphalt plant has been permanently located.
Can I suggest we continue to leave asphalt plants in industrial areas, where they have been for years, and then move the asphalt plants around temporarily to certain gravel pits for a month or two at a time, ONLY when a job calls for them to be near a certain location, so that NO PLACE, other than in the industrial zones, would be harmed by the decisions made by a planning director?
Please vote NO!!
I am always shocked when the County Commissioners vote on an amendment and go against what the public wants by claiming they are required to follow the laws.
Laws are clearly made up by the people, because the people elect officials to do what they want, that includes the laws the people want.
For example, if Bonner County doesn’t want liquor stores at every corner, the public says no, brothels on every corner, nope, the community says NO. How about a Costco or another bar? It’s not what the law allows regarding many of these establishments but what the PEOPLE want, and those elected officials are to follow what the people want in BONNER COUNTY areas as well.
It could be legal to have these things on every corner, like asphalt plants, but is it what the community wants? If not, then the commissioners should be voting for what the people want because it’s our decision not theirs.
People live in Bonner County and rural areas, away from industry, for a reason, and by allowing industrial equipment to run anywhere Milton Ollerton decides it can go is taking away the rights of all Bonner County residents.
Jonna Plante

Sagle, ID

To see the ordinance, click on the link and click on MINING ORDINANCE