(a) Applicability; term.
(1) A person must not operate a quarry without a valid license issued by the Department.
(2) Where 2 or more parcels of land containing quarry operations are not adjoining, a separate quarry license is required for each parcel.
(3) Any person conducting any quarrying activity within a license boundary is subject to the license and this Chapter.
(4) A license is valid for 3 years, unless revoked or suspended under this Chapter.
(5) The Director may extend a quarry license, for reasonable cause, up to 90 days beyond its expiration date. The Director must not extend a license more than 90 days. Any extension must be in writing and specify why the extension is granted.
(b) License Applications.
(1) Each applicant for issuance or renewal of a quarry license must pay the County a license fee established by Executive Regulation under method (3).
(2) Each application for issuance or renewal of a quarry license must be signed by each owner of the property in the license boundary (or, if there is more than one individual owner, the owners of a majority interest in the property), any lessee of property in the license boundary, and any operator of a quarry in the license boundary. Each application must be in a form prescribed by the Department.
(3) An application for issuance or renewal of a quarry license is not complete until all information and documents required under this Chapter have been submitted, including any insurance policy, performance bond, site plan, water quality certification, sediment control and stormwater management plan, sediment control permit, or abandonment plan.
(4) The licensee must file a completed application for renewal of a quarry license with the Department at least 120 days before the license is scheduled to expire. The Director may extend this deadline for not more than 15 days if the licensee shows good cause for not filing the renewal application on time. If a completed application is not filed by the applicable date, the Director:
(A) must not renew the license before it expires, and
(B) must treat any application for renewal as an application for the issuance of a new license.
(5) If the Director finds that a license or license renewal application is not complete, the Director must notify the applicant within 30 days after receiving the application and specify what additional information is necessary for the Department to process the application. The Director may extend the deadline set in the preceding sentence by 15 days by so notifying the applicant.
(c) Pre-hearing Procedures.
(1) The Department must make available for public inspection and copying at its offices, and at the public library nearest the site of the quarry or proposed quarry, a copy of the application and all other materials submitted by the applicant.
(2) If the Director finds that the license or license renewal application is complete, the Director must, at the applicant's expense, publish a notice of the application, including any license conditions proposed by the Director, in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the area of the quarry once each week for 2 consecutive weeks. The notice must include:
(A) a brief description of any conditions that would be attached to the license;
(B) the time, date, and location of the public hearing; and
(C) the person to whom written comments on the license application can be sent.
(3) The Director must provide a copy of the notice under subsection (2) to any civic organization in the area around the license boundary if the organization has given the Department a written request to receive such notices.
(d) Two-stage Hearing Process.
(1) Before issuing or renewing a license, the Director must hold a hearing under this subsection.
(2) The first-stage hearing must begin not less than 30 days after the applicant files a completed application with the Department.
(3) The first-stage hearing is a legislative-type hearing. Any person may testify orally or in writing or submit written questions to the Director at or before the hearing. The Director must then forward each question that is relevant to the issuance or renewal of the license to the applicant. The applicant must file an answer to each written question with the Department not later than 15 days after the Director adjourns this hearing, and these answers must be included in the record of the proceeding.
(4) If the Director finds, on request of any party, after considering the record of the first-stage hearing (including the answers filed by the applicant), that any disputed issue of material fact impacting the public health, safety, welfare, or the environment, remains unresolved and an adjudicatory hearing may help resolve that issue, the Director may appoint the Office of the Hearing Examiner to hold a second-stage hearing under the procedures of Article I of Chapter 2A. The Director by regulation may adapt the procedures of Article I of Chapter 2A to reflect the nature of this proceeding. If the Director has proposed conditions for the issuance of the license, the Director's designee must participate as a party in this hearing.
(5) The second-stage hearing must be on the record, and each party must be given an opportunity to cross-examine each witness. Other than public access to Department files on the application under the state public records law, pre-hearing discovery must not be available.
(6) The applicant must pay the costs of recording and transcribing testimony at each hearing.
(e) Decision.
(1) After considering the record of the first-stage hearing (including the answers filed by the applicant) and the record of the second-stage hearing if one is held (including the report and any recommendations of the Hearing Examiner), the Director may issue, renew, refuse to issue or renew, or conditionally issue or renew a license.
(2) If the Director refuses to issue or renew a license, the Director must specify in a written decision the reasons for this action.
(3) In issuing or renewing any license, the Director may attach conditions, and may require compliance procedures and schedules, as the Director finds necessary to achieve the purposes of this Chapter. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 98-4; 1972 L.M.C., ch. 16, § 5; 1992 L.M.C., ch. 20, § 1.)