An asphalt plant to provide road base for resurfacing work on U.S. Highway 14A was approved for operations by Park County commissioners Tuesday after a host of objections from neighboring property owners concerned about how operations would affect air quality, noise and property values. 

Commissioners approved the amended special use permit 3-1 with commissioner Kelly Simone opposed (commissioner Dossie Overfield was absent), as she favored a condition that would restrict the use to just this calendar year, starting April 15 and ending Oct. 31, with the county then able to determine, likely through another amended SUP process, whether to proceed with another amended SUP for future years. 

“I feel so conflicted in this,” she said. “It's very hard because I, again, [property owner Anthony] Jolovich has private property rights, and the use is permitted. It's allowed with a special use permit under our zoning. But I also hear loud and clear from the people around them that feel very strongly about it, you know, with their property values, their property rights.”

The final approval has no such limitation and will stay active even if the plant is inactive for multiple years. However, DEQ still has to issue a new permit each year before operations can resume.

The gravel pit was approved with conditions in 2024, but late last year, when Jolovich requested an expansion of the Diamond Spear Pit to add a hot plant mix so Mountain Construction can create asphalt for a nearby construction project, County Planning Director Joy Hill said it amounted to a major alteration of the previous special use permit and a public hearing was needed. 

Kim Wilson, general manager of Mountain Construction, accompanied by Jolovich and attorney Colin Simpson, initially had a meeting before the commissioners in February, where the request was for a modification to the SUP. At the meeting they agreed to go through the process for an amended SUP, which put them back on the agenda Tuesday for a public hearing attended by a whole host of residents, living either across the highway or to the north or south of the property, concerned about the construction of a hot mix plant. 

The plant location is across from Lane 18 on U.S. Highway 14A, and south of Iron Creek Drive, where many of the residents in opposition to the plant live. 

Wilson said the plant is needed to create asphalt for work being done along the highway, and the truck traffic will occur regardless — Wilson said roughly 1,000 trucks — whether they’re taking gravel to a hot plant they have near the rodeo grounds in Cody or asphalt to the construction site. She noted that trucking to the plant near the rodeo grounds would double road traffic in the area as the trucks would have to return east to the roadwork near Powell with the completed asphalt. 

She also noted that WYDOT only allows paving between May 15 and Oct. 15 each year, and what they need to do this year should only take roughly three weeks of running the plant. 

The plant would be available by Mountain Construction down the road — Jolovich said Diamond Spear and the construction firm have a 10-year agreement — for future road projects, likely of similar length, Wilson said. 

Nearby residents assembled in opposition packed the room and led commissioners to continue the public hearing into the afternoon after it had originally been scheduled in the morning. 

“It's hard for me to imagine how this mine will not infringe on our rights of peace, quiet and a healthful, clean environment,” Iron Creek Drive resident Larry Timjack said, adding that his wife has a condition that makes it hard for her to breathe normally. “So if this is approved, we recommend the shortest operating period, the shortest amount of hours possible, the maximum mitigation … And I want to assure Mr. Jolovich, as well as Diamond Spear, that if this [plant] is going on, we will monitor it every day to see the conditions are met. We will watch it very, very closely.”

Sam Kessler, who lives on Lane 18 with his wife and 7-month-old son, similarly expressed concerns about the air quality. 

“When he was born, we had to spend two weeks at Billings Hospital because of respiratory issues that he had,” he said of his son. “So I definitely do have concerns about air quality.”

Wilson said air quality is monitored by DEQ, and the plant receives even more strict requirements and monitoring than the already-approved gravel crushing operations, with the monitoring happening at both planned times, for a week at a time running at maximum capacity, and unannounced. 

Other residents expressed concerns simply about having to look at an asphalt plant below their view of the McCullough Peaks, and how it could affect property values. 

“With the asphalt plant there and the smells that would be generated from that, it is just going to ruin the quality of our life,” said Tom Northern, who lives just south of Jolovich. “And our property values are also going to go down, and it'll probably be very hard to sell the property if we deem we have to do that.”

Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said he appreciated everyone coming and the arguments in opposition, but that when he was a high schooler, “almost 50 years ago,” that area was a gravel pit and there was an asphalt plant there in 2010 when WYDOT first revamped the highway. 

“I'm just saying this gravel pit, for most of you in this room, was there before you even moved here, and I'm sorry if that inconveniences you,” he said.