AB 483

Under current law, a zoning ordinance enacted by a county, city, village, or town

(political subdivision) may not apply to a borrow site or material disposal site

operated in connection with a transportation project if certain criteria are satisfied.

A "transportation project" is a construction or maintenance project directed and

supervised by the Department of Transportation (DOT) that affects the waters of this

state and is therefore subject to an interdepartmental agreement between DOT and

the Department of Natural Resources. A "borrow site" is a site off of transportation

project property from which soil, gravel, or similar material used in the construction

of earthworks (borrow) is excavated for use in the transportation project. A "material

disposal site" is a site off of the transportation project property used to dispose of

surplus materials from the project and that is under control of the project contractor

or subcontractor, but does not include a general-use landfill. Among the criteria that

must be satisfied for a zoning ordinance not to apply to a borrow site or material

disposal site are that the site is used solely for the transportation project and that

the transportation project contractor is responsible for the operation of the site.

When a state law precludes applicability of a local ordinance, this is often referred

to as preemption.

This bill creates exceptions to the preemption under current law of local zoning

ordinances relating to borrow sites and material disposal sites as discussed above.

Under the bill, this preemption does not occur with respect to any residential area

that has more than 500 residents living within a one-mile radius of a material

disposal site. The bill also specifies that a political subdivision is not preempted from

exercising any authority to regulate, by ordinance, the hours of operation of, or noise

or traffic volume relating to, any borrow site or material disposal site. Finally, the

bill specifies that DOT makes the determination as to whether criteria are satisfied

that give rise to the preemption of zoning ordinances as applied to borrow sites and

material disposal sites.