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North Platte council grants conditional use permit for sand dredging and commercial processing at Diversion Dam site
Summary
The council approved a conditional use permit allowing Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District and a private operator to process and sell sand excavated from the Diversion Dam area, citing traffic controls and operational conditions.
The North Platte City Council approved a conditional use permit on June 3 for dredging operations and commercial sand processing on property southeast of the city, where Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (Central) maintains a large sand pile from decades of dredging.
Central representative Jim Brown told council the district has dredged material at the Diversion Dam for more than 70 years and has run out of room to place the sand. He said the district agreed to a 30-year arrangement with a private company, GRIT LLC, that will remove, process and market the sand to out-of-state buyers and use the nearby inland rail park for shipments. Brown said the project could bring employment to the county and activate rail infrastructure at the inland port.
“Some positives about this… this is gonna bring in additional employment for the county,” Brown said during the public hearing.
The council’s conditional-use motion included explicit factual findings and operational conditions mirroring North Platte’s zoning code: the use must conform to applicable laws and ordinances, have adequate utilities and drainage, and manage ingress and egress to minimize traffic congestion. During council questions, Brown said GRIT LLC expects up to about 20 truck round trips per day to the Greenbrier site and that Central has improved the haul road with asphalt millings to reduce dust and rutting. Brown estimated the district dredges roughly 50,000 cubic yards per year on average and said the existing sand pile is likely to remain a long-term feature even with commercial removal.
The city attorney and planning staff described the conditional-use process and noted that the operation was previously a legal nonconforming use that became subject to conditional-use review once product began to be sold commercially rather than given away. The permit was approved after a motion by Councilmember Reeker and second by Councilmember Garrick.
Votes and formal action: Council approved the conditional use permit with the conditions enumerated in the motion; specific roll-call tallies were not recorded in the spoken transcript.
