2016-08-11_PERMIT FILE - M2016009

Home Browse Search

Pueblo Chieftain I Page B01 Sunday, 7 August 2016 Q SHARE Pq Eu... Gravel operator makes his case Community meeting planned next week BY CHRIS WOODKA THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN John Paul Ary, president of Fremont Paving and Redi-Mix, wants to make it clear that he does not want to fight with farmers when proposing his Pueblo County Aggregate Project near Avondale. In fact, he thinks the project — first envisioned in 1999 but twice rejected by the Pueblo County planning commission — will be beneficial not only to the landowners involved but also to District 70 schools and Pueblo County as a whole. "When we as a community push sand and gravel out, every taxpayer will pay more;" Ary said. "We're not against farmers. We want to be partners and not at odds." Fremont Paving's project has been misrepresented by some farmers in the area who wrote a letter to Pueblo County Commissioners urging the placement of a moratorium on industrial uses in eastern Pueblo County, particularly near the Bessemer Ditch, Ary said. While the farmers' letter does not mention Ary's project by name, it includes concerns about gravel mining, among other things, and the primary authors of the let- SEE OPERATOR, 2B John Paul Ary talks about the gravel pit he is developing near Avondale. CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/CHRIS MCLEAN OPERATOR/ from page 1B ter, Tom Rusler and Dan Hobbs, mentioned the project in a July 31 article inThe Pueblo Chieftain. Fremont Paving has planned a community meeting regarding the proposal, including a discussion of its economic incentives and other benefits to the area. It will take place at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 15 at Vineland United Methodist Church. i 7 While the lease is for 1,500 acres, only about 360 acres would ever be disturbed, either by gravel extraction or haul routes, Ary said. "Not an acre of that is farm ground;" he noted. "The closest it comes to the Bessemer Ditch is a quarter of a mile."