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1 a" SCANNED ia '- 1boI - as 3 AM-e\ I--' Routt County Conservation District 1475 Pine Grove Road, Suite 201A - Steamboat Springs CO 80487 - Phone: (970) 879-3225 - Fax: (970) 879-2517 Date: February 23, 2009 To: CO Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety RECEIVED Attn: Russ Means FEB ? 6 aw Subject: Amendment to Camilletti Milner #2 Gravel Pit ®jYjsjgn or Keclamatipn,? Special Use Permit # PP 2005-078 c/ co .,, -N-C ? W ft and Safety We have reviewed the Amendment and have several issues with what is being requested. Reclamation of all slopes should be 3:1 to allow for landscape sustainability and vegetation establishment where appropriate. A 21 slope is not as aesthetically pleasing, nor stable. it is also harder for vegetation to establish. All current reclamation at this pit has been with slopes at 3:1. The pit has done an excellent job of reclaiming areas thus for, and we believe that every effort will be carried forward on additional worn. However, we would like to request that a 3:1 slope be utilized for the reclaimed work?. The presence of the gas pipeline in the middle of the proposed area to be mined for gravel is unfortunate. However, we request that this pipeline be relocated or condemned unusable by the Colorado Oil & Gas Commission, if such an alternative is feasible prior to any mining activates at the new site. It is not feasible to "woriz around" this pipeline, as only a 100 ft buffer would be required. A 100 ft buffer is not sufficient to protect this gas line from mining activities when activities are occurring on both sides of it. Excavating that close to the pipeline decreases the ground stability and therefore the integrity of the pipeline. The only alternative would be to only mine one side of the area that the gas pipeline runs through or relocate the whole pipeline as proposed in the mapping. We see nothing wrong with increasing the size of the area mined at one time from 25 to 35 acres. We don't feel that this is an issue because it would not cause any additional visual impacts. The area is already fairly visually hidden from most traffic, and an additional 10 acres would not change this fact.. The request to extend the hours of operation is a concern. It is our understanding that during the public hearing process this was the issue that held the most contention with homeowners within the area. We see nothing wrong with increasing the hauling time from 7:30 am to 7:00 pm Monday - Saturday. We do have a problem with the amendments request to increase the crushing the hours from 7:30 am - 5:00 pm Monday - Friday to 7:30 am - 7:00 pm Monday - Saturday. In our opinion this is excessive. Crushing should be allowed from 7:30 am - 7:00 pm Monday - Friday matching the hours of operation for the pit and from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm on Saturdays if it is truly needed to Izeep up with the demands of the business. We understand that no noise complaints have been received, but we feel that was largely due to no crushing on Saturdays. Everybody wants to be able to enjoy the outdoors, and in an area that gets a significant amount of recreational traffic from homeowners and visitors we feel that this is a good compromise. The current activities associated with the gravel pit have been very positive to the area. The new road to HWY 40 has been beneficial to not only the haul truths but also the residents who live on 179 and the residences within Milner as traffic has decreased. Current reclamation has been outstanding. In our experience it is seldom that a gravel pit goes to such lengths to reclaim the property, a minimal amount of effort is put in and the Camilletti pit should be commended for their efforts. For the Routt County Conservation District: jim Rossi, President Conservation - Development - Self-Government