Guides — dated answers, one question at a time

Every live guide on this site, newest first. Each one answers a single question people actually ask about Island Park dirt work — permits, 811, plowing, gravel, costs — with a source and a date on every claim. New guides publish through the season. Faster than reading: (208) 932-1140.

Where demolition debris goes in Fremont County: two landfills, three price tiers, and a scale house that will not sort for you$80 a ton sorted, $120 mixed, $240 if you refuse - and mixed loads bill at the highest category in the pile. Both landfills' hours and phones, the 2x2-foot concrete rule, the asbestos-free certification large projects need before the first truck, and the slash pit closing October 10, 2026.Published 2026-09-29
What paving a county road requires in Fremont County: hot mix above 50 degrees, or three shots of chip seal across two yearsThe county's roadway standards allow exactly two surfaces. Hot mix: laid above 50 degrees and rising, at 235-280 degrees, to 95-97 percent of lab density, judged by a ten-foot straightedge. Chip seal: three shots of MC-800 starting at 0.40 gallons per square yard, a third shot the following year, a second performance bond - and wobble-wheel rollers barred outright.Published 2026-09-28
Does your pond need a water right in Idaho? The word that decides it is 'storage'IDWR calls an impounded pond water storage, and storage generally needs a water right - a right to use water, never to own it. The dam threshold (ten feet AND fifty acre-feet), why a dugout reads differently than a berm, the approximately-three-month uncontested process, and the three desks a pond can sit at.Published 2026-09-26
Why the borrow pit down the road has a state reclamation plan and a bond behind itIdaho's Mined Land Reclamation Act from the dirt-work side: an IDL-approved plan covering backfilling, grading, topsoil and revegetation before minerals are mined for sale, financial assurance of at least $5,000 per disturbed acre (five acres or less) resetting annually, $500-$2,500-per-day penalties, and how the county gravel permit and the state promise fit together.Published 2026-09-25
Working in a stream channel: the permit comes from IDWR, not the countyAltering the channel of a continuously flowing stream takes an IDWR Stream Channel Alteration permit — Joint Application 60 days ahead, a $20 fee, 20 business days to first response, 20 to 70 days end to end.Published 2026-09-24
Fremont County's FEMA flood maps: participating since 1991, digitized nowhereThe county has been in the National Flood Insurance Program since March 18, 1991 — yet FEMA's digital flood hazard layer holds zero studies and zero panels for it. A blank online map is missing data, not missing hazard.Published 2026-09-23
Who owns a subdivision's storm sewer? The developer or the HOACurb and gutter means a complete engineered storm sewer — and the county's standards put its disposal and maintenance on the developer or a homeowners association, not Fremont County. What buyers should ask.Published 2026-09-22
A temporary dead-end street needs a turn-around at four lotsDead-end subdivision roads are prohibited except under a phasing plan — and at four or more lots a temporary cul-de-sac built to full standard is required. One-way streets are not allowed at all.Published 2026-09-21
How long do 811 locate marks stay valid in Idaho? Four weeks — with a three-week catchIdaho Code § 55-2205(2): marks stay valid no longer than four consecutive weeks from notification — and if excavation has not commenced within three weeks, the excavator must re-notice. Who maintains the marks, what invalidates them, and what § 55-2209 actually says about permits.Published 2026-09-17
The Fremont County driveway application, walked through line by lineBuilding Permit and Parcel ID fields, your signature plus two county signatures (Road and Bridge, Planning and Zoning), a code checklist from width to culvert — and the fee the form prints two ways, $50.00 and $25 per application, on the same page.Published 2026-09-16
Within 24 inches of a marked line, Idaho law makes it a hand-dig zoneIdaho Code § 55-2207(2)(a): within twenty-four inches of a marked underground facility, the precise location must be exposed by hand digging before machine work — plus the planning and support duties, the project owner's disclosure duty, and the liability and attorney-fee teeth behind them.Published 2026-09-15
What size culvert does a Fremont County driveway need? 12 inches by 30 feet, in printThe published driveway-culvert minimums: a 12-inch minimum diameter (or the size necessary), a 30-foot minimum length, in corrugated steel, aluminum, or concrete under 12 inches of cover — printed in three county documents that all agree. What the floors mean, and what stays the county's call.Published 2026-09-14
On a county road your approach keeps its distance — 125 feet from an intersection, 50 from the neighbour'sFremont County's Appendix B spacing rules: approaches at least 125 feet from any intersection on local roads, 155 on collectors, 200 on arterials, private approaches 50 feet apart. Plus Table 2's alignment limits, including the 8% local grade maximum that can rise to 10% with attention to maintenance consequences.Published 2026-09-12
When a crossing needs a bridge — HS-20 trucks, 3 feet 4 inches of extra width, and the 100-year flood underneathFremont County's structure standard: bridges designed for an HS-20 truck on local roads and HS-25 on collectors, built three feet four inches wider than the approach roadway over a 50-foot straight approach, cleared two feet above the 50-year flood so the 100-year passes beneath. Canal crossings need the canal company; Fish and Game can require an open bottom.Published 2026-09-11
A new road's drainage: a 10-year 6-hour storm, 24-inch ditches, and the culvert floorsNew-road drainage is engineer-designed for a ten-year, 6-hour storm plus spring runoff, with 24-inch ditches reseeded per NRCS. Culvert floors run 18 inches under roadways and 12 inches by 30 feet under approaches, steel at 0.064 and aluminum at 0.060 inches, and driveway culverts must carry a 40,000-pound load.Published 2026-09-10
What a county road is made of — 18 inches of pit run under 4 inches of crushedFremont County's cross-section standard: a 30-foot surface built from a 24-foot traveled way and 3-foot shoulders, over 18 inches of pit run compacted to 95% density in 9-inch lifts, topped with 4 inches of three-quarter-inch crushed gravel, with 2.5-inch asphalt where paving is required.Published 2026-09-09
Utilities in a county right-of-way have assigned places — five feet for dry, three for wetFremont County's right-of-way permit covers utilities, service lines, private approaches and irrigation inside county roads. In a 70-foot right-of-way dry utilities get a 5-foot easement and wet utilities 3 feet, potable water and sewer stay 10 feet apart, and narrower rights-of-way switch to setbacks. Amended by Ordinance 2020-07.Published 2026-09-08
Island Park roads are wider on purpose — the county's own standard says it is for snowFremont County's recommended right-of-way widths run from 120 feet for principal arterials down to 50 to 70 feet for subdivision roads, and the code allows additional width in the north county specifically for snow storage. Fences belong at least five feet beyond the toe of slope.Published 2026-09-07
A subdivision road carries a one-year warranty — and the clock starts in the Commissioners' minutesFremont County will not let a plat be signed or recorded until the Public Works Director signs the improvement drawings. Before conditional acceptance the engineering firm must produce Drawings of Record and certify the road was built to county standards, and a minimum one-year warranty runs from an administrative date.Published 2026-09-05
Crossing US-20 with a utility: you bore under it, and failing that you fail three times firstAny utility crossing the state highway right-of-way needs an approved ITD encroachment permit — including relocation, maintenance and removal, not only new installation. Crossings are bored, jacked or driven unless trenching is justified by one of three named conditions, and a failed bore requires two more documented attempts elsewhere.Published 2026-09-04
Your cattle guard goes on your land, not in the county's right-of-wayFremont County's road standards require cattle guards serving private approaches to be placed on private property, built to Appendix B Figure 5 unless the Public Works Director approves an alternative case by case. The county's own section points at the statute covering obstruction of the public right-of-way.Published 2026-09-03
Disturb an acre and the state joins your dirt job — and the county code names the wrong agencyFremont County requires a professionally prepared runoff and erosion control plan. Construction disturbing one or more acres — including a small site inside a larger common plan — also needs a construction general permit from Idaho DEQ, which took the programme over from EPA on 1 July 2021.Published 2026-09-02
Digging your own gravel: six acres, two years, and a letter to everyone within 3,000 feetFremont County permits gravel extraction under two classes. Class I covers up to six acres completed within two years, extraction only, fifteen-foot stockpiles, and is available once per property. Both classes notify every owner within 3,000 feet and require an improvement agreement approved before the permit issues.Published 2026-09-01
How steep is too steep to build on? The county has two numbersAt 25 percent slope the county requires a geotechnical engineer to certify no significant hazard of slope failure or erosion. Above 33.33 percent it prohibits building outright. Plus the steep-slope setbacks measured from the toe and the top, which quietly shrink a building envelope before anyone draws a house.Published 2026-08-29
The county's own driveway spec: sight distance, angle, grade and an 18-inch culvert floorAppendix D of the Development Code sets 200 feet of sight distance each way, an 80–90 degree intersection over the last 15 feet, a 2–4 percent negative grade band, a minimum 18-inch culvert, and apron widths by use. Plus what the code authorises the county to do about an access built without a permit.Published 2026-08-28
Fremont County requires a permit to move dirt — and hardly anyone mentions itClearing, grading, excavating, dredging or filling in unincorporated Fremont County needs its own county permit. The $100 minor fee, the 7–10 working day review, the floodplain and slope questions on the form, and the point where the Administrator can convert it into a six-stage Class II review.Published 2026-08-27
The state sets a minimum distance between driveways — and on a rural highway it is 650 feetTable 1 of the state encroachment rule is the constraint most likely to stop a new approach: 650 feet between unsignalized accesses on a rural route, a full mile of public road spacing, and a ten-percent tolerance before a Traffic Impact Study becomes mandatory.Published 2026-08-26
How wide can a driveway onto a state highway be? The state publishes a tableMinimum and maximum widths and turning radii for every approach type, banded by the posted speed of the highway. A single residential approach starts at 12 feet; sharing one with a neighbour more than doubles that.Published 2026-08-25
A driveway onto US-20 is a state permit — and the state wants engineer-stamped plansUS-20 is a state highway, so the approach is permitted by the Idaho Transportation Department under IDAPA 39.03.42, not by the county. No work on the right-of-way before the permit issues, stamped construction plans, six clocks running at once, and a denial process that starts verbally.Published 2026-08-24
Renting a machine versus hiring an operator: the honest mathThe rental rate is the visible number and rarely the deciding one. Transport, the locate duty that follows the person digging rather than the machine, liability for a struck line, and the days lost learning — all laid out so the comparison is actually a comparison.Published 2026-08-22
What the paint on your lot means: locate colours decodedEight colours under one national standard. White and pink are the two most often misread, and neither marks anything buried. What each colour means, what the marks do not tell you, and how fast they disappear.Published 2026-08-21
Defensible-space clearing in lodgepole country: what to ask for, and where the slash goesIdaho's own guidance sets two zones — 30 feet, then 30 to 100 — with a spacing rule almost nobody quotes. What that means for a machine in a lodgepole stand, and why the slash line is where two bids stop being comparable.Published 2026-08-20
How deep do utility trenches have to go in Island Park?The 32-inch figure everyone repeats is a footing rule, not a waterline rule. What the county specifies by trench contents, and the honest gap: no published depth exists for a private service line on a private lot.Published 2026-08-19
Should you buy snow removal per visit or by the season in Island Park?The county won't plow a private or subdivision road, so winter access is a purchase. Per-visit vs seasonal, the one published rate in the area, and the six terms a snow agreement has to contain.Published 2026-08-18
Do you need a culvert where your driveway meets the road?If the approach crosses a roadside ditch, almost certainly — and the county publishes the minimums: a 12-inch diameter floor (or the size necessary) at a 30-foot minimum length. What the standards say, and what still gets settled inside the driveway permit.Published 2026-08-18
What size gravel does an Island Park driveway need?Base and surface are different jobs: coarse pit-run carries the load, a crushed minus product locks in the top. Why round river rock fails, and what plows do to loose gravel.Published 2026-08-17
What does excavation cost in Island Park, Idaho — and why does nobody publish prices?No operator posts a rate sheet, and there are honest reasons: haul distance, rock, slope, mobilization, a five-month season. What IS published, how bids are built, and how to make three bids comparable.Published 2026-08-15
How late in the year can you still dig in Island Park?Machines outlast concrete here — but frozen ground, buried locate marks, and operators switching to snow routes set a real deadline. Which dirt jobs still pencil in fall, and which should wait.Published 2026-08-15
Who pulls the driveway permit when you hire an excavator in Island Park?The county requires the permit either way; who files it is a bid question. How the driveway permit ties into the building file, and the three questions that sort every excavator's bid.Published 2026-08-14
What does site prep for an Island Park cabin lot actually involve?Five phases in a fixed order — locates, clearing, the access cut, the pad, and utility trenches — with the county's paperwork threaded through each and the 32-inch frost rule underneath it all.Published 2026-08-14
Will Fremont County plow the road to your Island Park cabin?Almost certainly not — the county's own criteria sheet disqualifies private and subdivision roads at question one, and survivors still need 50 rating points. What to arrange instead, and when.Published 2026-08-13
How far ahead do you have to call 811 before digging in Island Park?Idaho Code § 55-2205 sets the window — at least two business days, at most ten — plus white-paint pre-marking and the one exemption that never applies to cabin projects.Published 2026-08-13

Looking for the operator roster and the two rules every dig runs under? That is the home page. Wondering who writes this? The about page draws the lines plainly.