County Planning Gravel Quarry In/Around: Airway Heights

Spokane County wants to mine 5 million tons of rock from a quarry near Airway Heights.

The county’s Division of Engineering asked the county hearing examiner on Wednesday to approve a zone change for 49 acres of land at Hayford Road near Balmer Road.

The county’s site is next to a large Shamrock Paving Co. gravel pit, said Don Shultz, county road engineer.

Rock from the county pit would be used for road maintenance and construction for at least 50 years.

After the county exhausts the supply of gravel and basalt bedrock, the pit would be reclaimed as a lake or a wetland for recreational uses, he said.

Currently the property is zoned for agricultural use. The hearing examiner must approve a zone change to a mining designation.

The county plans to use the site for stockpiling different kinds of gravel. The basalt, which is harder than the glacial gravels at the site, would be used in construction projects.

Mining and crushing would be done every three to five years to replenish the rock piles, he said. The county will hire a private contractor for that work.

Plans call for excavating the pit as deep as 60 feet.

A decision on the rezoning could come at any time.

, DataTimes