Commissioners approve Hoodoo Ranch gravel pit special-use permit with conditions

Park County commissioners approved a special-use permit (SUP) and site-plan review for a proposed gravel pit on Hoodoo Ranch that Public Works will use to supply material for construction of a new county road connecting State Highway 120 to the State Shooting Complex.

County planners said the pit is classified as a "large rock products mine." Public Works will initially extract about 30,000 cubic yards of pit-run material, and Park County plans to use the pit during road construction. After county use ends, the joint powers board for the shooting complex and the landowner, Hoodoo Ranch, may access the pit; Hoodoo may also conduct future crushing activities. Planning staff noted crushing would trigger permits and authorizations from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) air-quality division.

Wyoming Game and Fish identified the site as being in a sage-grouse core area and recommended avoidance measures for surface disturbance, seasonal timing limitations on vegetation removal, and limits on haul-road truck traffic during breeding season. Staff included a condition to comply with Game and Fish recommendations where practical. Park County Public Works and the county engineer confirmed that Bureau of Land Management access for a haul road had been reviewed and authorized.

Conditions approved by the board include requiring compliance with county nuisance rules, submission of required permits or evidence that permits are not needed (including BLM and WYDOT as applicable), an approved long-term noxious-weed-management plan before ground disturbance, a requirement that crushing activities obtain MSHA/DEQ permits, and a requirement that the landowner (rather than the county) assume long-term responsibilities for the SUP once county operations cease. The board approved the SUP with those changes; the motion passed by voice vote.