MISSOULA — A lawsuit has been filed against Missoula County by Carlton Protection Trust over their decision to approve the expansion of a gravel pit near Florence owned by Western Materials LLC.
The suit alleges that the gravel pit was never legal, with the zoning in the area being set for residential use. This goes back to Zoning District 40 (ZD 40) - passed in 1976 — when the original owner of the gravel pit was grandfathered into the area when the pit was relatively small in size.
When the property was sold to the next owner, they petitioned the county to allow for expansion in order to come in compliance with state mining act requirements. They hoped to do so by creating a slope that would even out the existing pit.
In 1993 the county approved a Zoning Compliance Permit — allegedly without notifying the residents of the area about ZD 40. The owner then entered into a contract with the State of Montana Department of State Lands allowing for mining operations on 3.5 acres on the property.
That owner then allegedly expanded the mining operations to 15 acres in size and put in an asphalt plant — which was not approved in the permit. The pit at the same time allegedly expanded to 72 acres by 2001.
In 2009, another permit (a Zoning Compliance Permit) was issued for the pit — allowing it to continue its operations as according to the county, it complied with zoning regulations. In 2010, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued an amendment to the Opencut Mining Permit allowing the operation to be at the size of 50 acres with a reclamation date in December of 2020. Although, in 2014 the DEQ approved an amendment to the permit to have the reclamation date be in December 2045.
Shortly afterward, Western Materials LLC purchased the property from the previous owner, although the previous owner still had a role in the permitting process as they had to be transferred over. In 2020, another Zoning Compliance Permit was issued — allegedly without public comment once again.
The lawsuit alleges that permits that were approved for the pit in 1993, 2009 and 2020 were illegal because the county didn’t ask for public comment which was required under ZD 40.
The lawsuit also alleges that the latest approval of the expansion was illegal due to the widespread disapproval from residents during the 2024 public comment phase, going against the required 60% consent from the residents in the area per ZD 40.
Residents have also brought up concern over the potential impacts to water quality, alleging that the county did not provide a robust enough water survey. They allege that the surveying did not look at seasonal changes to the aquifer or the depth of the groundwater in the area.
