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Residents press county on Knife River CUP compliance, biomass site transparency; state agencies to brief commissioners April 16
Summary
A county resident told the Crook County Board of Commissioners on April 2 that Knife River Aggregate appears to be repeatedly failing terms of its conditional-use permit at the Woodward site and that the county and state agencies have not provided needed transparency about a planned biomass plant.
A county resident told the Crook County Board of Commissioners on April 2 that Knife River Aggregate appears to be repeatedly failing terms of its conditional-use permit at the Woodward site and that the county and state agencies have not provided needed transparency about a planned biomass plant.
The comment came from Adam Mikulski, who gave his Prineville-area address and asked what enforcement steps the county planned after a series of alleged violations, including an absent weed-control plan and the lack of independent baseline well reports required by the Woodward CUP. “Such well reports shall serve as a baseline against which possible future changes in water quality can be assessed,” Mikulski said, and he told the board Knife River never provided the reports listed in the CUP.
The concern about monitoring followed an earlier county response that Knife River reported the last on-site dewatering in 2020 to the Department of Environmental Quality. Mikulski said that response did not address the CUP requirement to fund independent well testing for neighboring wells and asked what enforcement "teeth" the county has when CUP conditions are not followed.
County staff acknowledged the issue and said Knife River was asked to reach out to neighbors about monitoring. Will (county manager) said state agencies are engaged and that representatives from those agencies will attend the board's April 16 meeting to present initial testing results and next steps. Will said the county's hands are partly tied when state agencies have primary jurisdiction for technical groundwater testing and noted the county would record any further CUP violations and follow its code for enforcement procedures.
Mikulski also raised transparency concerns about a proposed biomass plant site that he said will require moving an urban growth boundary and rezoning. He criticized the 30-day notice period for affected neighbors and suggested expanding the notice radius beyond the minimum to give rural residents more time to respond. County planning staff explained the county follows state notice requirements and that in Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zones those notice distances can be 750 feet; staff cautioned that expanding the county's notice beyond the state minimum can create liability if notices are missed.
On the zoning question, planning staff clarified that if a proposal becomes a quasi-judicial land-use application for rezoning to heavy industrial located outside an urban growth boundary, the notice radius could be 250 feet under the county's interpretation of the rules. Mikulski said he would follow up with the city on the city's notice rules because the biomass site is a city-linked matter.
Why it matters: neighbors say groundwater and property values are at stake if baseline well monitoring and other CUP conditions are not implemented. The scheduled April 16 presentation from state agencies may provide the first public summary of preliminary test results.
What happens next: county staff said they will invite state groundwater and DEQ representatives to give a presentation and will explore holding an evening session or alternate venues so more residents can attend.
