As the community prepares for this Wednesday’s Archuleta County Planning Commission hearing on the proposed Dutton Ranch gravel pit, I stopped by Oakbrush Hill to photograph the required sign publicizing the public hearing, which was posted on the ranch entry gate along Piedra Road.
Other signs have appeared along Piedra Road as well.
Opponents of the proposed gravel operation — who seem to hail mainly from neighborhoods and small ranch-ettes along Piedra Road — have been preparing for the February 23 hearing by holding meetings, signing petitions, buying ads in the weekly newspaper, writing letters to the Board of County Commissioners and Planning Commission, making phone calls, and digging into state laws and Archuleta County Land Use Regulations.
The applicants and proponents of the new gravel pit, including the property owners, have also been active, submitting reports that supposedly justify the gravel operation in light of the existing County regulations… and also buying ads in the local newspaper.
On Friday, Archuleta County Attorney Todd Weaver posted a two-page public letter, clarifying (from his point of view) some of the issues that may be pertinent to the upcoming Planning Commission discussion and decision. It begins as follows:
On February 23, 2022, the Archuleta County Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing on an application for a Conditional Use Permit for a Major Sand and Gravel project to include a large area of property to supply road base and construction materials for the Archuleta County market. In addition, the application requests a permit to haul the material offsite.
Archuleta County officials do not have the authority to approve or deny the opening and operation of a gravel pit. Last year, the applicant, C&J Gravel, submitted an application to the State of Colorado, Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety for the operation of a gravel pit on Oakbrush Hill at Dutton Ranch. It is the State’s responsibility to approve the opening and operation of a gravel pit by reviewing possible impacts to groundwater quality, wildlife, revegetation, and other categories as stipulated in the Mineral Rules and Regulations for the Extraction of Construction Materials. And comments regarding these subjects should be provided to the Division of Reclamation, Mining and safety. The State’s decision regarding this application is currently scheduled to be completed no later than April 29, 2022…
Attorney Weaver’s letter then mentions (briefly) Section 9.1 of the County Land Use Regulations, which describes the issues and rules the Planning Commission is allowed to consider when making recommendations about sand and gravel mining. The Land Use Regulations pertinent to a gravel mining operation can be downloaded here.
Attorney Weaver’s letter can be found here.
As Mr. Weaver notes, the Planning Commission cannot approve or deny this Conditional Use Permit. They will make a recommendation to the BOCC… who will make the final decision.
Here’s a photo of some of the rural scenery surrounding Oakbrush Hill, shown in the center distance. The road shown is Piedra Road.
As I drove Piedra Road to take these photos, I found most of the pavement to be in reasonably good shape, although the pavement near the intersection with Stevens Lake Road (where the above photo of the ‘Stop the Gravel Pit’ sign was taken) looked to be in poor shape.
My past articles about gravel roads and paved roads, here in the Daily Post, have led me to understand that new asphalt pavement can be preserved in reasonably good condition for perhaps 25 years, or longer, before it needs to be ripped up and replaced. The preservation process involves laying down a ‘chip seal’ layer every few years, depending upon traffic wear-and-tear.
Longevity also depends upon the quality of the roadbed under the asphalt layer. Archuleta County roads built in the 1970s are not known for their high-quality roadbed. Piedra Road at the intersection with Stevens Lake Road looked to me (amateur highway engineer that I am) to be beyond salvation, even with a ‘chip seal’ treatment.
But many other segments of Piedra Road appear to be in decent shape, and might — with proper preservation treatments — be able to last 20 years, until the proposed Dutton Ranch gravel pit is exhausted.
Or maybe not.
Recently, the County began posting the letters from the public — ‘for’ and ‘against’ — on the gravel pit application website, here.
Here is a sample from one of the letters ‘Against’, dated February 17.
First of all, we do “thank you” for your service.
As instructed, I went to the Archuleta County web-site to complete the form to voice our concerns for the C & J Gravel Pit off of Piedra, only to find that the room for the meeting will only hold 15 people or so (we’re all very disappointed the County has not moved to a facility that could accommodate larger group… which shows how important this is to us as we had planned to attend,but do NOT want to be put outside in the cold…
We know the County is fully aware that this issue is very important to so many of us, but it appears they really do NOT want to hear from us that oppose of this location. The last time we tried “zoom” it was horrible as we could not hear properly, and could not voice our concerns due to poor Centurylinks internet connections (another area of concerns).
Clearly, this project has significant impact for the next 20 years of those of us that live near or drive/use Piedra. Again, we understand the county need for gravel, but to have it at the center of long term residential dwellings and a road like Piedra which is so highly used already is not the appropriate decision…
You’ve already heard of the negative impact of ‘additional’ gravel trucks being on this road; further road damage/pot holes, noise and air pollution near our homes, potentially more accidents — vehicle windows getting cracks/broken, no pedestrian uses, etc. We live close to Piedra, not far from where the gravel pit is proposed, and feel we’ve already been tolerant with the logging trucks that the [Forest Service] has allowed for harvesting, and other gravel trucks going down toward Williams Lake all last year, and know of its schedule for the coming years. To have additional industrial traffic on the one-way lanes does not seem smart or wise for this County to approve. (Piedra is currently a mess and always has been)…
As we note from this letter, Piedra Road has seen its share of truck traffic recently — logging trucks, and gravel trucks delivering gravel (trucked from Durango?) for road maintenance in the National Forest, at the end of Piedra Road.
Do the County Land Use Regulations address damage to existing roads?
Or the threat of additional accidents?