Enterprise advisory board approves most permits, denies batch-plant permit for long-running Pittman detention basin project

The Enterprise Advisory Board on Jan. 15 approved use permit number 2 and related variances tied to the long-running Pittman North detention-basin project but denied use permit number 1, which covered a temporary concrete batch plant.

The permits relate to a privately funded detention basin and an associated temporary sand-and-gravel operation that, the applicant said, funded grading and materials for nearby residential development and a future school. Mark Mulhall, representing the applicant, outlined the project history and phasing, saying the original approvals date to 1997 and that the temporary mining and batching operations were intended to be phased out as the basin and school were completed. “I’m Mark Mulhall on behalf of the applicant,” he said during his presentation, then reviewed approvals, past redesignations and the project’s shrinkage from a 135-acre plan to about 40.38 acres.

Why it matters: The Pitman project has been used to fund a public drainage facility that the developer says relieved local public agencies of millions in costs and allowed residential parcels to come out of the flood plain. Neighbors and the board have repeatedly confronted the trade-off between temporary industrial operations in a residential area and the long-term public benefit represented by the finished detention basin, school site and recreational fields.

Mulhall told the board the project has been steadily reduced in scope: early approvals anticipated a 45-acre detention basin within a larger 135-acre project; subsequent zoning, economic downturns and FEMA map revisions altered the plan and reduced the land needed for detention. He described recent steps the applicant said will finish the work: submission of a hydrology study and grading permit, commitments of material supply (he said “commitment from the boring company for half a million yards” of structural fill at no cost), and a plan to reclaim 13 acres first and another 7 acres once adjacent basins are built. That reclamation, he said, would allow sports fields and the final detention-basin footprint to replace the open pit.

During discussion board members and staff queried whether the batch plant remains necessary. Staff opened the item with a recommendation of outright denial. Board members pressed staff and the applicant over which temporary uses remain necessary, whether the existing approvals allow import of fill (as opposed to exporting aggregate), and whether county funding delays on other basin projects had forced continuing private operations.

A resident and representative of San Rafael Estates, Melissa Klein, spoke during public comment and said the homeowners association had not received plans for the architectural committee’s review; she asked that the HOA review process be followed.

The board then acted on ET24400137. A motion stated the specific package: deny use permit number 1 (batch plant); approve use permit number 2 (continuing the sand-and-gravel/mining operations and associated uses as described in the staff report); and approve the requested variances, with conditions. The motion carried.

Discussion versus decision: Much of the meeting portion for this item was explanatory and historical (the applicant’s timeline and reclamation plan). The board’s formal decision split the permits: it denied the batch plant permit while approving the remaining temporary-use permit and variances as conditioned. The board and staff emphasized oversight and phasing during future enforcement and review steps.

What comes next: The approvals allow the applicant to proceed with the hydrology study and grading submittals necessary to reclaim acreage and complete basin work, subject to the conditions the board attached and any county permitting steps that follow.

Ending note: Board members repeatedly framed the approvals as time-limited and phased; staff retained the option to require follow-up information and inspections as the site moves from temporary industrial uses toward the proposed school, athletic fields and finished detention basin.