IFG gets OK to expand Chilco Mill

COEUR d’ALENE — The Kootenai County commissioners voted 2-1 on Thursday morning to grant Idaho Forest Group a permit to expand its 251.6-acre Chilco Mill onto another 46.5 acres.

The conditional use permit, allowing the lumber company to improve operations at the site, had been protested by neighbors of the mill worried about water supply impacts and increased noise pollution.

“That’s a high concern of mine, after my relatives were here and stayed at a hotel because they couldn’t stand the noise,” Kristine Marsan, a neighbor of the mill, told the officials before their deliberations. “They said they couldn’t do it. Too much clanging and banging.”

But Commissioner Dan Green, who voted in favor of the project, noted that the expansion would allow the Athol mill to consolidate operations and make work more efficient.

“It’s weighing building economic prosperity versus the needs of local residents,” Green said.

The vote followed a public hearing continued from last week, to allow for a site visit.

The three elected officials also approved a variance allowing mill buildings to be only 160 feet from a nearby residence, instead of the usual 1,000 feet.

According to the project narrative, expanding onto two adjacent parcels will allow for the relocation of the mill’s parking lot, storage pond and piping network to allow for additional lumber storage.

IFG also plans to construct a 130-foot portal crane to store and water logs more efficiently at the mill. More space is also expected to provide separate room for truck scales, truck tarping and turnaround to relieve lumber yard traffic congestion.

An IFG spokesman could not be reached on Thursday afternoon.

To mitigate impacts on neighbors, some of whom have said they can’t open their windows in the summer because of noise from the mill, the commissioners conditioned that a vegetative buffer on top of an existing berm be completed at once, instead of phased over several months.

“It’s easier to enforce,” Green said. “It’s done or it’s not done, instead of (the county) periodically going back and forth and reviewing the phasing.”

Commissioner Todd Tondee also pressed for a 6-foot, 100 percent obstruction fence at part of the mill’s perimeter, to shield activities from the nearby residence of Larry Tipke.

“If you have lights coming in, it’s something I’d like to see mitigated,” said Tondee, who also voted for the project.

Commissioner Jai Nelson voted against approval.

As for some nearby residents’ concerns about the mill impacting water supply, the commissioners noted that the Department of Environmental Quality has found nothing to support that theory.

“The DEQ, they’re going to keep up and monitor (the situation),” Tondee said.

That didn’t necessarily placate Tipke, whose property line borders the mill’s.

Tipke said on Thursday afternoon he is still concerned the environmental agency won’t follow up on initial water quality monitoring.

He worries that polluted water used to wash logs at the mill could end up in the Chilco Aquifer, he said.

“My concern is if they keep doing this, that the Chilco Aquifer runs into the Spokane Aquifer,” he said. “How many other people have to be affected?”

The project site is located on the west side of Old Highway 95, about 1.5 miles north of Chilco Road.

The Chilco Mill processes logs from North Idaho and Washington and sells lumber throughout the world. The mill employes 226 living wage jobs.