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undercrossing under Black Bridge Road, we found up to $500,000 in costs related to the reclamation of <br />the items just mentioned. Once the County approves a change of use to industrial, the enforcement of <br />reclamation to "pre -mining" use by the Department of Mine Reclamation becomes very difficult—and if <br />the Farmers Ditch is compromised, or the trestle bridge is not demolished and instead falls into the <br />North Fork causing flooding, or the metal plated undercrossing under the Black Bridge Road fails—who <br />pays? Is the County liable since they approved this change of use? <br />Here is how things stand now: <br />We have a petition with well over 400 signatures asking the County to deny approval of the <br />application <br />We have been in constant contact with the Department of Reclamation and Mine Safety (to <br />the extent 3 of their senior people drove over from Denver on June 26 for an "informal" public <br />hearing with about 30 people at Hotchkiss Memorial Hall to hear our concerns. The DRMS is <br />now in the process of writing letters of "adequacy" to Bowie Resources which potentially will <br />not allow them to proceed with the change of use and sale to Mark Levin until they can address <br />the problem areas mentioned above through some other revised reclamation agreement <br />outside this change of use. <br />There is no scheduled public hearing by the County to approve the original application and the <br />approval process is in limbo for the time being. <br />We have just found out that the County is in the process of replacing Kelly Yeager( who was in <br />charge of the application process in the planning department) with another person—this will <br />mean that the entire application, with all the facts and concerns we have gathered, will be <br />under a new review. <br />We are very encouraged by the response of DRMS and now by the County to reconsider the application <br />for a change of use to industrial. And our group of concerned citizens will remain aware of this <br />potential land use change for any future proposed development. We are business owners, and property <br />owners, who care about the whole North Fork Valley community, and we will stay involved. <br />