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:~. , iii iiiiiiiiiiiu iii • <br />Mazch 22, 1996 <br />Mr. Paul Blisk <br />Assistant Zoning Administrator <br />Boulder County Land Use Department <br />P.O.Box 471 <br />Boulder, Colorado 80306 <br />Re: Unauthorized and Inappropriate Road Improvements off <br />Steamboat Valley Road north of Lyons, Colorado <br />Dear Mr. Blisk: <br />Per your suggestion, my wife and I are writing to document our concern about what we believe to <br />be illegal and inappropriate improvements to a trail for use as a stone quarry haul road. The trail <br />is approximately two miles north of Lyons, Colorado, off Steamboat Valley Road. This trail has _ <br />been significantly graded for use as a stone haul road for the Loukonen Brothers quarry which <br />exists to the north. The trail has been substantially widened and the debris from the grading has <br />been carelessly disregarded. <br />We believe that Loukonen Brothers have improved the trail without the necessary grading or road <br />improvement permits. We know the work has been done without the knowledge or permission of <br />the private landowners whose land is crossed by the old trail. Adjacent landowners were all <br />surprised to see the work well in progress early on the morning of February 31st without any <br />advance notification. <br />The trail has been in existence for an uncertain period of time. We and our neighbors are unsure <br />of when the trail was established or who originally cut it through the land. We have lived on <br />Steamboat Valley Road for two years and, during that time, the trail has been used only very <br />sporadically by rivo or three groups of people who, we believe, live somewhere to the north. <br />No-one has used the trail very regularly because of its extremely rough condition. Our neighbors <br />who have lived here for a much longer time confirm this sporadic and informal use of the trail and <br />the total lack of use as a stone haul road by anyone. We contend that any historical use rights of <br />the trail for access or quarry-related activities have long been abandoned. We are certain that the <br />trail has not been used for quarry-related hauling for as long as anyone around here can <br />remember. Access egress for the Loukonen quarry has always been via other roads to the north <br />and east of Steamboat Valley. <br />We do not know why the situation has changed to make it important to consider this trail an <br />access route for the quarry operations. We do contend that there is no precedent for its use in <br />this manner nor to the improvements to what is a private road. We are alarmed by the sudden and <br />unforeseen manner in which the work was undertaken, by the careless disregard for the manner in <br />which the debris has been !eft, and by the unauthorized construction on private land. <br />