Laserfiche WebLink
1 <br />25 <br />' This present report is based on our 1972 study of the scenic resources <br />' involved as viewed from major travel routes and from the Denver Mountain <br />Parks unit above the quarry. Aquisition of the Falcon Mountain Recreation <br />Lands by the Jefferson County Open Space Commission, however, may attract <br />substantial numbers of viewers to those lands. A study of the potential <br />' impact of the quarry operation on views from those lands was therefore <br />contracted. Results will be presented in a supplement to the present <br />report when completed. <br />' Nature of Impacts <br /> Both the quarry and the roads associated with it affect scenics negatively. <br />' The effects are experienced both on-site and off-site. This discussion <br /> will pertain only to off-site impacts. Our 1972 investigations identified <br /> eight features of the operation that detracted from scenics. The nature <br /> of the impacts of each as they are today will be discussed below. A <br />' general measure of the severity of each can be derived from distance and <br /> frequency of view. Scenic detractants are usually more objectionable in <br /> the foreground of a view (0 to 1/2 mile) than in the middleground (1/2 <br />' to 4 miles) or background (more tfian 4 miles). Visual impacts were assessed <br /> from ten off-site photo points along public roads. <br /> 1. The haul road from the scalehouse to Highway 8 creates a scar <br />' across the rolling hills (Figure 7, 1972). This scar is in the <br /> foreground of the view for a distance of about 1/3 mile when <br /> approached from the south. It is not conspicuous from the north. <br />' It was visible from two of the ten 1972 photo points. <br /> 2. The scalehouse is a foreign object in a partly natural setting <br />' (Figure 7, 1972). It is visible in the middleground for about <br /> 1/2 mile of Highway 8. It was visible from but one 1972 photo <br /> point. <br />' 3. The deep roadcut and fill between the scalehouse and crusher <br /> (Figure 10, 1972). This section of road appears as a scar across <br />' a rugged, rocky slope. It is seen in the middleground for a dis- <br />tance of about 1/2 mile along Highway 8 when approached from the <br /> north. It is also visible but not conspicuous in the background <br /> from the road between Morrison and Golden. It was visible from <br />' three of the 1972 photo points. <br /> 4. The edge of the operating fill appears as a horizontal line in an <br /> otherwise angular landscape in the far foreground from 1/2 mile of <br />' Highway 8 when approached from the north. It was visible from <br /> but one 1972 photo point (Figure 10, 7972). <br />' 5. Service road to the top of the quarry (Figure 11, 1972). This <br /> road appears as a zig-zag scar across the hills in the middle- <br /> ground from a number of points along Highway 8, hlighway 285 and <br />' an unsurfaced road that connects them (Figure 8, 1972). It was <br /> visible from eight of the ten photo points. <br />1 <br />1 <br />