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FEB 1 5 2005 February 12, 2005 BY: _-- - Dena County Planning Department Delia County Courthouse 501 Palmer Street, Suite 227 Delta, CO 81416-1764 Re: SDOS-001 Benson Brothers -New Gravel Pit. You recently sent notices to all residents within 1000 feet of the proposed gravel pit, and to those whose property adjoins the site. Seven property owners were notified, as they fell into one of those categories. In fact, there aze over 100 people living within aone- mile radius of the site and every one of them use Ward Creek Road for access to their properties. As you know, Wazd Creek Road is the only road, which provides access to the proposed pit. You might also be awaze that that road is used daily by neazly all Coalby residents north and south of the proposed site as well as all those north whose properties access Uinta Road and Brimstone Road and all roads which enter Uinta and Brimstone roads. The school bus transports students thru Coalby Canyon along the same route with several stops within'/, mile of the proposed mine. The pit operators have said that they will only average S loads per day of product with the occasional "project" demand of as many as 30 loads per day. A project, as I understand it, is anything similaz to a road base operation such as the High Pazk Road job, which took the same company months to complete from their operation off of Green Valley Road (now closed). I know, because every truck went by my house spewing dust and noise for the entire summer: Please keep in mind that 301oads out requires 30 trips in. So over a "typical project" day there would be as many as 60 trucks operating in or out of the site over a 10-hour day. If they had buyers, any day would be a project day. The 5 load "average" wouldn't cover their costs. Ward Creek Road is supposedly awell- constructed road, built for coal haulage when Coalby was a coal mining community. That was 30 yeazs ago. Today, Coalby is a beautiful, pastoral, rural community. There aze no industrial operations within the canyon and its life-blood road is shazed with cars, horses, bikes and hikers. In addition of the high usage noted above, there aze other considerations of safety. The road curves right at the mine road entrance, providing a blind spot for vehicles approaching from the north. Drivers generally trave140-45 mph on the road with the occasional person exceeding that by 5-10 mph It happens. The project has a big potential for serious safety failings where the roads are concerned, but there are other concerns as well. Compatibility with adjacent land uses doesn't exist, in spite ofthat noted in section A of the PERFORMANCE STANDARDS generated from your office. As noted above, there have been no mines operating legally in Coalby canyon for many yeazs. The very small operation of the Belden family which produced red shale gravel a few years ago in the same location as the proposed pit was operated without a legal permit and was such a small operation that many people in the azea didn't even know $ existed, except for the incredible junk displayed all around the site. Coalby canyon is a jewel in the desert. The Delta County Commissioners called it "unique" when discussing those seeking sub-