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Board denies request to nearly triple truck trips from County Road 60 pit after neighborhood outcry
Summary
United Companies sought permission for up to 300 daily trips from its County Road 60 pit to support time-sensitive public works, but neighbors raised dust, health, safety and notification concerns; after extensive testimony the board denied the special-project trip increase request.
A public hearing on June 24 produced lengthy testimony from residents, county staff and the operator United Companies (Old Castle Southwest) about a request to increase the pit's daily truck trips from the permit baseline (about 110 trips) to as many as 300 trips per day for limited public projects.
Tiara Bartuski, United Companies' Colorado-New Mexico region environmental manager, said the company had partnered on local public works and would follow a Good Neighbor policy for drivers, dust control and truck behavior. She explained the time pressure of summer construction in the mountains and urged the county to permit increased throughput to support CDOT paving and other projects.
Road and Bridge staff asked for stronger, immediate dust-control measures and suggested temporary mag application and keeping the new gravel damp until a mag operation could be implemented. The county's road superintendent said the department could accelerate mag operations if needed and recommended water trucks and cooperative on-site measures in the short term.
More than a dozen neighbors and business owners testified about health impacts and dust in the community, property damage and safety concerns at the County Road 60/US-40 junction. Neighbors said notification about the request had been inadequate and that some people received notices very recently. Several residents urged denial unless the company reduced the request or committed to paving the haul route or significantly stepped up dust mitigation.
Several commissioners said they could not support nearly tripling truck traffic given the documented community impacts and the availability of alternative routing through Legacy Park that would reduce County Road 60 traffic. After discussion, the board voted to deny the special-project variance request for the trip increase.
Next steps: United Companies and county staff were asked to continue coordination on dust control, traffic control and road stabilization; county staff will consider notification and permitting changes for future special-project requests affecting widely dispersed neighborhoods.
