Quarry Meeting Goes Nine Hours (Mountain-Ear 6/26/08)8 by Pam North Gilpin County A special use review (SUR 07-05) application proposes operation of an open-cut rock quarry to produce and transport specification rock from a 530-acre site located approximately 5 miles south of Black Hawk on SH 119. A public hearing was held on Tuesday, June 17 at the Gilpin County Courthouse to discuss the issue of the MMRR Quarry. Several representatives from Brannan Sand and Gravel gave a presentation on how Gilpin County can benefit from this new business. Brannan, a family-owned company, with a focus on blending in with and supporting surrounding communities, has been in business for over 100 years, with operations in several counties. Brannan has completed contracts with Phil Wolfe, owner of the parcels, and title will pass to Brannan on July 26, 2008. Purchase of land in contingent upon issuance of permit, so if Brannan is unable to obtain operation of the quarry, the property would revert to Wolfe. Permit application was reviewed at state judicial level and court of appeals level, and courts supported the issuance of permit. Review of the project is still ongoing. The Gilpin County Planning Commission recommended denial of the proposal due to their perception that truck-related accidents would have a major increase. Brannan disputed this with the claim that their trucks were safe, inviting further review of that contention. Brannan submitted the following points to outline their proposal: more aggregate material is needed for the Denver area; Brannan will operate the quarry in an environmentally responsible manner; the county will get something back in terms of donations to schools, availability of and discounts on quarry material for county residents, increased tax revenue, diversity of the county's economic base and creation of new jobs; quarry would be limited to 98 acres, with remaining land preserved; closest residence to quarry would be a mile; access would be from Hwy 119, with acceleration and deceleration lanes constructed by Brannan, and the entrance (between the Bullwhacker's gas station and Black Hawk) would be the only visible evidence from the highway of the quarry's existence. The type of quarry proposed is a horizontal extraction quarry, and it appears that 100 million tons are available for removal, with approximately 1 million tons planned for removal annually: actual mining could take up to two years to begin, and operations would go through ten planned phases. Reclamation with grading and planting native plant species is part of the project. The quarry would to be in compliance with the county's Master Plan. Traffic concerns were also addressed. Under normal operation Brannan's 30 trucks will make no more than 176 departures from MMRR per day, with highest volume of traffic from 9 am through 10 pm. Gaps between departures will minimize any traffic problems. Public comments, concerns and questions were addressed. These encompassed impacts on existing water wells and resources, casino business, ecology and environment, property values and quality of life, roads; effects such as increased in noise, lights, dust emission, erosion, traffic, accidents. Opinions on these topics were varied, ranging pro to con, as might be expected. Further public comment will be accepted through next Monday, when another meeting on the subject.will be convened at 9:00 a.m. at the Gilpin County Courthouse. Further coverage of this issue will appear in next Thursday's Mountain-Ear. Continued Review of MMRR Quarry Proposal (Mountain-Ear 6/26/08) by Pam North Gilpin County Another lengthy public hearing was held at the Gilpin County Courthouse on Monday, June 23, with the purpose of further examining the various aspects of the MMRR quarry proposal, and addressing the comments, questions and concerns of county residents and other interested parties. Issues relevant to the project were complex, eliciting opposing viewpoints and conflicting data to be considered before a verdict may be made on the viability of the proposal. Brannan Sand & Gravel Company (BSGC) has submitted a Special Use Review (SRU) application seeking a permit to operate an open-cut rock quarry proposed to produce and transport specification rock from a 530-acre site located approximately 5 miles south of the city of Black Hawk on SH 119. Brannan, a family-owned company with a focus on blending in with and supporting surrounding communities, has been in business for over 100 years, with operations in several counties. The proposed quarry is expected to mine and reclaim 98 acres over a 100-year period. Brannan has completed contracts with Phil Wolfe, owner of the parcels, and title will pass to Brannan on July 26, 2008. Purchase of land is contingent upon issuance of permit; if Brannan is unable to obtain operation of the quarry, the property would revert to Wolfe. Permit application was reviewed at state Judicial and Court of Appeals levels; courts supported the issuance of permit. Review of the project is still ongoing. Average production would be 1,000,000 tons per year for a total of 100,000,000 tons. Current use of the area is forestry zoned/vacant, historic use is grazing. All adjacent properties located on the east side of SH 119 are zoned forestry/vacant, and the nearest residences are located on Robinson Hill Road and Douglas Mountain Road, approximately 1 mile and 1/2 mile respectively from the subject site. Uses permitted by special review are milling, mining in any form, including gravel pits and rock crushing. It was agreed that it could not be claimed that there would be no impact from the establishment of a quarry; the question is more of how much impact there would be, and how best to mitigate negative impact in the following aspects: Visibility - While 3/4 of a mile, or 10.7%, of the SH 119 Visual Character Protection Area is impacted by the quarry, there is natural screening (ridgeline); all crushing/loading will be done behind the ridge, and only the entrance at the highway would be evidence of the quarry from the road. Light - Lighting at night would be confined to only minor ones brought in for machine repair, and those will be downcast. All operations would be limited to daylight hours. Dust - Dust emission mitigation and suppression would be adequately addressed by Brannan. Groundwater - Findings indicate that due to site-specific geology, hydrology and topography, local impacts would be minimal. Drainage/runoff - Impacts would be minimal. Noise - During-mining noise affect a limited area, and would be minimal along SH 119. Noise impacts would be greatest at the residential impact zone west of the quarry site. Impact duration would be relatively short-lived as natural buffering would become more effective as mining progressed northward. Ground Vibration - No adverse effects to nearby structures was judged to be incurred from peak particle velocities under production, processing, load-out, drilling and blasting conditions. Wildlife - "Development of the quarry is not expected to result in loss of habitat for endangered species or high-quality natural areas essential to maintenance of regional wildlife diversity" (Western Consulting Group). An existing eagle nesting site would not be affected due to distance and topographical mitigating factors. Traffic & Accidents - Increased traffic volume would result from trips made by the project's 30 trucks making up to 176 daily departures from MMRR, with highest volume from 9:oo a.m. through 10:00 p.m., with gaps between departures to minimize traffic. The applicant claimed that trucks are a "safer than average component of the traffic mix on SH 119 and US 6 farther down the canyon." County staff were unable to substantiate that claim. Reclamation - Brannan claims it takes reclamation very seriously and will address this concern responsibly. Benefits for County - Annual taxes paid to county by MMRR would be much higher than current agricultural parcel tax revenue of $111. MMRR initially would pay about $13,000 on real property, with an additional approximate $16,000 in personal property taxes, and total taxes would build as MMRR built up its operations. Property values could increase. There would be availability of aggregate material to the county and its residents at a discount. Employment of 15 (possibly up to 65) new employees would be offered, with local residents given priority. Diversification would enhance the county's economic base and economic sustainability. The public hearing was closed with intent to continue to review the proposal. The Planning Commission had recommended denial of the proposal for a variety of reasons including: adverse effects on existing land use, increased heavy industry traffic that would compete with existing gaming access, unsuitable location, incompatible development, insufficient tax revenues and employment to benefit county. The County Commissioners have not made their decision, and will continue to address the proposal from the perspective of how it fits in with the Gilpin County Master Plan.