2013-04-10_PERMIT FILE - M2013007 (2)

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Barbara Bernhardt 20409 Solitude Road Montrose, CO 81403 April 7, 2013 Colorado Division of Mining, Reclamation, and Safety 1313 Sherman Street - Room 215 Denver, CO 80203 Re: Permit Application Number m2013007, Proposed Uncompahgre Gravel Pit I am writing to comment on one of the concerns I have with the above permit application, that being the inaccurate representation of surrounding properties. RECEIVED APR 10 2013 / OF RECLAMATION MINING AND SAFETY A photo in section J -4 (page 53) of the New 112c Application submitted on 2/12/2013 is wrongly identified as 'Picture 5 - Lower valley bottom west of pit showing Irrigation Canal after tunnel under property'. Also, an accurate photograph of nearby properties on the north end of the mesa was not provided. Additionally, no accurate photograph of nearby property owners to the east or south of the proposed pit was provided. Because of the misidentified photo and the omission of other pertinent ones, the actual status of the land as an area with a significant number of residences surrounding the proposed pit is not accurately reflected in the application. Since I live in the valley west of the proposed pit, I recognize the 'Picture 5' photo on page 53 as having been taken from the far north end of 6565 road, near its intersection with Solar Road, about 1.3 miles to the north of the location wrongly identified in the photo caption. The canal in 'Picture 5' is not the 'West Canal', which travels beneath the mesa to the south, just north of the proposed pit, but rather the 'Montrose and Delta Canal' after it has rounded the northern end of the same mesa. I have included a photo of the Montrose and Delta Canal that I took this afternoon. The road in the picture is Solar Road. Please note the white pickup camper in both photographs. An accurate photograph actually taken from the proposed mine site would have revealed that there are eighteen homes in the valley immediately to the west of the proposed pit. In total, this small valley currently contains 51 homes. On the mesa top immediately north of the proposed pit (of which no photo has been provided by the applicant) there are 8 homes in the Mountain View Mesa Subdivision. A second subdivision, Moonlight Mesa Subdivision, consists of 6 homes and is located to the immediate north of the Mountain View Mesa Subdivision on the mesa top. This brings the total to 14 homes on the small contiguous mesa top just to the north of the proposed pit, and to 65 the number of homes immediately north and west of the proposed pit.