County to restart process for gravel pit

State transportation officials will seek again approval of a gravel-mining operation that they say is essential to the affordable construction of the North Spokane Corridor.

But neighbors concerned that the gravel pit will be an unsightly, noisy and dusty blight to their rural neighborhood say they will continue to fight it.

Last week, county commissioners voted unanimously to restart the approval process for the gravel pit because they said there was no proof that a hearing last year on the matter was properly advertised in the newspaper. Neighbors had appealed a county hearing examiner decision from last year that approved mining on the property but restricted the site’s operating hours.

State officials want to purchase 61 acres near Gerlach Road and Freya Street to mine gravel on the southern 25 acres of the property. The freeway will connect Interstate 90 to U.S. highways 2 and 395 via Hillyard. The site would be active for a couple of decades as the main source of gravel for the entire project.

“We will do everything we can to promote economic development and prosperity in this community, but it will be within the law,” said Commissioner Mark Richard, after the vote. “We looked at it with a fine-tooth comb.”

The county’s hearing examiner likely will hear the case again within the next couple of months, said John Pederson, Spokane County’s assistant planning director.

“It allows more information, more public input into a process that was hurried and obviously a process in which public notification didn’t happen as it should,” said Brian Kasbar, who lives near the site and argued the case for neighbors

The Department of Transportation hopes to be able to use the site by next spring, when surface work will begin on the portion of the highway from Francis Avenue to Farwell Road, said Al Gilson, department spokesman.

Gilson said a cost analysis shows that the gravel pit would save at least $2 million compared to the next cheapest option, which is using an existing pit five miles away.

“It’s an economic decision for us. This saves taxpayer dollars,” Gilson said. “We’re going to work with the county and neighbors to do the best we can.”

Kasbar compared the location of the proposed pit to one along Interstate 90 near Broadway Avenue, which is visible to passing motorists.

“It’s going to have a big visual impact on everyone who drives on the North Side,” Kasbar said. “Do we really want this gaping hole sitting on the gateway to the north (of Spokane).”

Transportation officials say the gravel will come from the side of a hill and won’t create a giant hole.

“We have designed before and after visualizations that clearly show that the views during and after construction will not be impaired,” Gilson said. Those after pictures from two angles show the top of a hill removed and reshaped.