Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Winkler Light Aggregate Quarry <br />August 15, 1989 <br />Page 3 <br />Yet, the Town stands to gain very little in the way of revenue to offset these impacts. No <br />Town sales or property taxes will be collected, and the current system of ton-mile tax <br />collection/redistributionwdl not return revenue amounts proportional to the impact on the <br />Town. We will be looking towards permit conditions and intergovernmental agreements <br />to allow for additional tax revenue to be returned to the Town, phased infrastructure <br />upgrades, and road maintenance sharing. Without such arrangements, the Town will have <br />to rely on other mechanisms for mitigating impact -specifically, vehicle weight limits or <br />truck route designations -mechanisms which may be less in line with the applicant's plans. <br />Our concerns are not alleviated by the applicant's assertion that an increase in the <br />availability of less expensive, local aggregate will cause the problem of substandard <br />County/Town roadways to go away. <br />A final issue which needs to be addressed is the impact of increased truck traffic on <br />Highway 86, particularly in regards to traffic safety - a situation which continually worsens. <br />3). Batch Plant Use. These uses can be particularly noxious. I do not see that the <br />report has addressed any, traffic or other, impacts associated with these uses. <br />4). Project scale. The size of the use permit area appears unwarranted and is of major <br />concern to Castle Rock. While I do not object to the identification and comprehensive <br />planning of large potential mining areas as the appropriate means for addressing longer- <br />range land use, phasing, and environmental issues, I believe that the use by special review <br />process should be limited to much smaller areas in order to adequately deal with the <br />specific, incremental impacts of each mining phase. Without such a step by step approval <br />process, we will be faced with a mining operation of unknown years of life and be afforded <br />relatively little control over how it will develop -particularly as the Town grows "closer' to <br />the site and the relative impacts and issues change over time. The use by special review <br />public hearing process is intended specifically for the purpose of assessing special uses and <br />their changing impacts/surrounding conditions over time -rather than to provide a blanket <br />vesting for a long, unknown period. At minimum, any such approval of a use by special <br />review permit for such a large, long range project should wait for the County's <br />Comprehensive Minerals Extraction Plan. <br />A final issue in this regard - I do not believe that the applicant has sufficiently <br />demonstrated the need/potential uses for rhyolite of the level and type asserted. In <br />particular, its use for roadways and other types of heavy/non-decorative construction is <br />questionable given its lightweight, porous properties. <br />Finally, I would like to express my strong objection to the manner in which wildlife impacts <br />were addressed in the applicant's submittal. As noted, the property is designated as one <br />of the few habitat areas available within the entire State for the endangered Sharp-tailed <br />