County OKs expansion of gravel pit

A well-organized neighborhood effort to stop a massive expansion of a gravel pit near Calhan has failed, and about two dozen residents face the prospect of fundamental changes to their quiet, rural lifestyle.

After a nearly 12-hour hearing Monday, four of the five El Paso County commissioners voted to allow the expansion of the Sokol gravel pit south of Calhan. Commissioner Sallie Clark was absent.

Commissioner Douglas Bruce, who represents the Calhan area, said balancing the rights of the pit owner and nearby property owners was the “most complex land-use issue we’ve had to deal with.”

“This was not fun,” he said.

Apparently, expansion opponents agree. Dave Doran, who lives on Soap Weed Road, the main travel route for trucks coming out of the pit, angrily refused to comment on the decision Tuesday. Doran, whom neighbors looked to for leadership in their fight, criticized The Gazette for its coverage of the fight against the pit. Other property owners could not be reached.

The county has operated the pit since 2004 and will be the biggest customer of the gravel to be extracted from the expanded mining operation.

With the commissioners’ approval of a special-use permit, the days of small-scale, off-andon mining at the pit that goes back to the 1970s are over.

Now, owner Rocky Mountain Materials and Asphalt can expand gravel mining from 40 acres to 295 acres, though only 50 acres would be mined at one time, followed immediately by reclamation. Rocky Mountain plans to excavate 150 feet deep.

And it will be no 9-to-5 mining operation. Originally, the company wanted to operate the mine 24 hours a day, six days a week, year-round, holidays and Sundays excluded.

But Bruce, who shuttled between Rocky Mountain vice president Rob Mangone and opponents during breaks in the marathon meeting, was able to negotiate a slightly less disruptive schedule:

Loading of trucks can occur 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday, for 250 days a year, with the company deciding which days to operate.

The company has agreed not to process or wash gravel at night, but simply load trucks from piles of gravel mined during the day.

Mangone told the commissioners the company probably won’t need to operate 24 hours a day during the height of winter.

Still, neighbors living along Soap Weed Road are likely to see a massive increase in truck traffic.

A county staff member told commissioners neighbors could expect, in a worst-case scenario, 480 truck trips in and out of the pit every day; 160 during the day and 320 at night, or about one truck up or down the road every three minutes.

Mangone said the truck trips are likely to be much lower on a day-to-day basis, with perhaps 40 trips in and out of the pit a night.

Neighbors told the commissioners that, worst case or not, they expect a perpetual cloud of dust over the nowgravel south leg of Soap Weed Road, where the residents live.

Mangone, over the course of Monday’s meeting, eventually agreed to pave the south leg of Soap Weed Road by July 31. He also agreed to pave the north leg of Soap Weed, which intersects with U.S. Highway 24, once truck trips in and out of the pit reach 200 on any one day.

The asphalt company is required to make improvements to Soap Weed and Highway 24 once truck traffic exceeds 20 percent of historic loads.

Finally, Mangone agreed to run all truck traffic on north Soap Weed Road at night to avoid driving past the 22 or so homes within 1,500 feet of the pit.

In an attempt to further mollify neighbors, Mangone agreed to restrict the number of lights in the pit, their height and to shield them to prevent light pollution at night. He also agreed to install proximity alarms rather than the more common beepers that sound when a truck backs up.

The county will review the pit operation annually to make sure Rocky Mountain Asphalt is complying with noise and other regulations.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0197 or mckeown@gazette.com