PERMFILE118131 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

H/S Properties Pit DMG 110 Application Exhibit B -Site Description This mining permit is for a gravel pit on 5.005 acres owned by H/S Properties. The property is situated about 2.5 miles north of the town of Olathe, Colorado and'/. west of US Highway 50. The property is bordered by Banner Road on the south, the Union Pacific Railroad and North River Road on the west, Mountain Firewood on the Hemel Trttst land to the east, and the Louisiana Pacific Corp on the north. There is a sawmill directly across Banner road to the south. There are several old vehicles stored on the Mountain Firewood property immediately east of the proposed mine site. Land directly west of the site on the west side of River Road up to the Uncompahgre River is also owned by H1S Properties and has been developed as wildlife habitat. Access to the site is from Banner Road. The approximately 2.5 acres of the north part of the property is the edge of a small mesa that rises 30 feet above the relatively flat southem half of the property. The area to be mined is covered by 0-6" of gravelly clay loam topsoil and 12-20" of gravelly clay loam overburden on top of I S to 20 feet of glacially deposited sand and gravel, which overlies shale. The southern half of the properly is Loamy Salt Desert soils derived from weathered shale. The mesa top and the flat southern half of the property have previously been leveled and used for log storage by Louisiana Pacific Corp. Vegetation in the areas that have been leveled is sparse and consists mostly of weeds (mostly mustazd), low desert brush species and a few clumps of grass. There is heavy brush up to about six feet high along the western property boundary where a lazge drainage ditch runs through the east side of the railroad right-of--way. There aze some trees, brush and thicker grasses along the toe of the mesa where an irrigation waste- water ditch crosses the property. Permanent man-made structures within two hundred feet of the affected lands aze fences and underground irrigation lines owned by H/S Properties, telephone line along Banner and North River roads owned by Qwest, power line and pole northwest of the affected land owned by Delta-Montrose Electric Association, a fence south of Banner Road owned by Lloyd H. Gray, a fence partially owned by the Hemel Trust, a water line along River Road owned by Tri-County Water, Banner and North River Roads owned by Montrose County, and the railroad owned by Union Pacific Railroad. The waste-water ditch contains water only during irrigation season.. There is no other surface water on the property. This will be a dry pit and no ground water will be encountered or affected by this operation. The Uncompahgre River lies about a quarter mile to the west of the site. The property contains no endangered species or critical or important habitat. Wildlife on the site is spazse and is mostly small mammals, reptiles and birds found in thinly vegetated desert areas, with an occasional deer passing through. The property is currently zoned General Agricultural, but the site is within the projected industrial corridor along US Highway 50 and adjacent to existing industrial uses.