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~~recewed demand for the rock <br />That construction, however, has also <br />brought ne7i homes and residents to the <br />va11Cy.'yjrme of those residents don't want a <br />revived stoce industry ripping up then sce- <br />ne Wew. They contend the noise, traf[ic and <br />blasting from the quarries is undermtofng <br />the voice of their homes. <br />At the heart of the issue Is a debate over. <br />Whether the gmrries have been mints ac- <br />tlirely ~Ince county inning laws went into <br />lffect In 1973. <br />H the gUerrles were Imetive for a year or <br />more, residents maintain, they cemot be <br />e=empted Irom the zoning law. <br />The quarry operators maintain history V <br />:their side. They say the quarries have <br />hteu mined, at least intermittently, long be- <br />fore there were zoning laws. l~ponents plan <br />t0 9hbmit aerial photographs and at[idaWta <br />t6 prove the quarries were dormant [or pert- <br />ods of a year or more since 1973. <br />"Why would people move in here and <br />b011d ;!0,000 and ;100,000 houses, across <br />from ao actve quarry?" asked Steve Sycks, <br />Ohs of the~nelghbors seeking to close the <br />quarries. "They weren't active." <br />"I wouldn't have moved Irom Lyom, <br />rrbich is 6eaWly quarried, and build a house <br />cent to a quarry;' he added. "It's insane." <br />Neil Sprague rs the middle of a three- <br />generatioo gmrry family. He's worked with <br />stone for SS yeah, begiming o0 61s [ether's <br />quarry in Lyom. His two som have followed <br />him into the bminesa. <br />Sprague and his wife, Jady, own Arklns <br />Park Slane Co., the largest quarry operation <br />to the valley. <br />W6t:rr they worked (n Lyom, the Spragues <br />quarried several hondred tom of stow for <br />the University of Colorado-Boulder. Nell <br />Sptague passes bj~ those buildings witboat <br />feeling a txrtain pride. <br />'I don't' care what job I did or where it U, <br />'~~Itlther It's these 1 year or SO year;' he <br />salad' When I gbt'tick, it's still my job." <br />~Id,.he, dome'! understand the <br />, ~:..~ <br />~orw ooaoorvROary MounN" Ne <br />The Arklns Park Stone Co., which uses broken rock es riprap, is an eyesore to some Buckhom Valley residents. <br />Quarries In the Buckhom Valley have raised a lot of emotional "dust," with <br />homeowners and business people arguing economics vs. quality of Ilfe. <br />"You can take the same rabble pile that's <br />on the momtain and haul It down and put it <br />0o the Loveland golf course and it's 6esutl- <br />fal;' he said. <br />The quarry Leave spited leaf [all after <br />Sprague's son, Philip, and hb two partners <br />applied for a quarry permit <br />Oppmition to that quarry brought in a <br />state mine impactor, who temporarily shat <br />down several other, quarries last December <br />for operating without a permit <br />[.ant month. the euarriea won a boost <br />restrtctiom on their aperatiou. The history <br />of the valley's atone indasuy wen a factor in <br />that decision, said comfy planning adminis- <br />trator Jerry White. <br />"H we were looting at a virgin area where <br />no mWng had ever taken place, where quar- <br />ries Jere not obWom when people moved <br />there, then I think we might have looked at <br />it a little differently;' he said. <br />But oppooeuta say the quarries have a:- <br />paoded significantly beyond what was done <br />the last 10 months fs mbellevable," se <br />Robert Rnanb, a homeowner In Glades We <br />a 35-home subdlvtalen built in 1977. <br />Rnaub sold blasting at oce quarry site ~ <br />fall shook nearby houses and frightened I <br />children. <br />Quarry owner Douglas HachU, tiorVew <br />said mmt of the quarries regahie llttleor ~ <br />blasting. He also noted the state rep0lrr, t <br />quarries altlmately to reclaim the Lnd <br />The quarry fight eztenda beyaed 91asa <br />Wlle. The owner of the Ring Ranch, south <br />the valley, applied for a todo <br />crushed dernrative stone from rry t <br />county began in the 1930x. <br />Some residents along the gravel road [a <br />Ing the 3,000acre ranch oppose the perm <br />saying the operation will rotas dent, ooi <br />and traf[ic. <br />Ranch manager bean Ackerman said t <br />ceighbors may see aB that and more if U <br />quarry is denied. Without the Income t <br />quarry would produce, Ackerman said t <br />ranch owners may opt to divide the land in <br />35-acre parcels far cew homing. <br />Quarty owners centend that more th <br />livelihoods are at stake. They say the ato <br />they sell wholesale for between;35 to;75 <br />too goes for valuable uses. <br />"A part of that mountain i8 is the cemp~ <br />or In somebody's home or in a flreplaa <br />Judy Sprague said. "That mountain Isi <br />goce, It's jmt been replaced ~ut to <br />better use." <br />Bnt ceighbora like INariaa Yank are n <br />cronvinced, and want their momtain left i <br />tact <br />"The rock may be valuable, but so ate t <br /> <br />