After a year of working with a hired attorney, the Tooele County Commission unanimously adopted Chapter 30 of the Tooele County Land Use Ordinance during their county commission meeting on Tuesday night.
The new chapter of the TCLUO was designed to regulate gravel pits that were in operation before existing regulations were adopted.
Known as non-conforming or grandfathered, these gravel operations are not subject to the current Tooele County code governing gravel extraction, according to to Jodie Burnett, a Salt Lake City-based attorney retained by the county to help draft the new ordinance.
Non-conforming uses are uses that were lawful when they were established but changes in the county’s land use ordinance have made them incompatible with current allowed uses, according to county code.
Generally, non-conforming uses are allowed to continue their former lawful use but are restricted in their ability to expand or enlarge.
However, under state law, some non-conforming uses, such as gravel extraction, are allowed to expand onto property originally acquired for the use, as long as the property was acquired before the use became restricted under a legal principle known as “the doctrine of diminishing assets.”
Titled “Regulation of all mining, quarry, sand, and gravel excavation operations, including both those currently permitted and legal nonconforming uses,” the ordinance requires the owners or operators of all gravel operations in the county to obtain an excavation permit from the county within one year of the adoption of the ordinance.
To obtain an excavation permit the operator of a gravel pit must submit an operation plan and reclamation plan to the county.
The permit will be issued after the county’s community development director makes the determination that the application is complete and meets all the requirements of the ordinance.
The ordinance specifies restrictions hours, days, and times of operation; dust, noise, vibration, smoke, lights, and odor control; fencing and barriers; and requires a plan for managing water run off from the site.
Rock crushing and related operations are limited by the ordinance to between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. from April 1 to Nov. 30, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Dec. 1 to March 31.
The hauling of product is limited by the ordinance to between 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. from April 1 to Nov. 30, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Dec. 31 to March 31. However, trucks used in hauling operations are allowed to enter the site before the specified time or permitted to leave the site loaded with material after the specified time.
The use of washing equipment is limited to between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. All permanent yard lighting is to be turned off during other hours.
The ordinance states that operators have the right to perform maintenance, repair and related work during hours beyond those specified for other activities but are required to make reasonable efforts to reduce noise and light by using low impact mobile lighting, according to the ordinance.
Commercial vehicles utilizing the excavation site are required to use the designated hauling routes as referenced in the excavation permit.
The ordinance allows for rock crushing and other operations to be conducted only with a combination of buffering, berming, screening, landscaping, and other mechanisms, including limitations on noise as found the County Code, as appropriate to reduce or mitigate potential adverse impacts on neighboring land owners and county residents.
No excavation processing is allowed on Sundays, or the following legal holidays: New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day, according to the ordinance.
There is a process for gravel extraction operators to follow if they need a temporary exemption from the regulations for emergency purposes or to meet special contractual obligations.
Any person adversely affected by any final decision made in the issuance of an excavation permit may file for an appeal. The appeal would be heard by a county administrative hearing officer, according to the county code.
While representatives of the gravel industry worked with Burnett on the language for the new ordinance, Burnett warned that the industry representatives do not believe that the county has the legal authority to regulate non-conforming uses, particularly gravel operations.
“In working cooperatively with us they are not waiving their rights or conceding those positions and are reserving their rights to bring a legal challenge,” he said.
The new ordinance was recommended for approval by the Tooele County Planning Commission. The planning commission held a public hearing on the ordinance in October.