Planning commission approves nursery, composting permits for 7550 Lower Bull Road; tables quarry and contractor yard

The Eastern Summit County Planning Commission voted 4–1 to approve conditional-use permits for a nursery and a recycling (composting) facility at 7550 Lower Bull Road in Browns Canyon while deferring final action on proposed quarry and contractor-yard uses.

The motion, made by Commissioner Wilde and seconded by Maryann (the chair), excluded on-site snow storage and adopted findings and conditions prepared by staff. Commissioners recorded a 4–1 tally in favor of the motion; Commissioner Clint cast the sole dissent.

Staff had presented the application as four distinct uses: a temporary quarry/topsoil processing operation, a recycling facility (class 2) to process green waste into mulch/compost, a nursery/tree farm and a contractor’s yard. Planner Ray told the commission the applicant had proposed a sunset on soil-import and processing operations, and staff recommended a hard end date tied to those conditions. "We put in there that we wanted 3 years… that's the end of 2027," Ray said when discussing the timeline for soil operations.

Representatives for the applicant and their land planner said the composting and nursery components are the long-term uses and that soil imports and some processing would stop once the tree farm was established. The applicant described plans for roughly 8,600 trees and said the operation includes a transfer of two acre-feet of water to the site tied to well use and state‑engineer coordination.

Neighbors and nearby property owners urged caution. "The plan appears silent" on road widening and traffic impacts, said Steven Viggen, who raised concerns that previous filings suggested many trucks could access the property. Lehi Watkins, representing Anchor and Hope LLC, asked the commission to require a traffic study before approving broad soil-processing rights, noting staff estimates and applicant comments that, at peak, operations could involve dozens of heavy trucks. "We think you ought to require a traffic study at this point," Watkins said.

The commission and staff reconciled several differences between applicant-submitted conditions and the staff report during the hearing. Commissioners pressed staff to ensure the applicant’s more restrictive voluntary conditions — for example, a contractor-yard cap the applicant set at 10 vehicles — are incorporated into the final conditions if the commission intends to rely on them. Staff agreed to add clearer, more restrictive language where the commission requested it.

On composting, the applicant and a land planner described standard operations: green waste is ground and moved into windrows, turned weekly, and managed under Department of Environmental Quality requirements. A DEQ-authorized process and regular inspections were cited by the applicant as safeguards against odor and unmanaged piles; staff and the applicant agreed windrows would be managed so they do not exceed operational height limits (the operator said equipment keeps rows from exceeding about 7 feet).

The final motion approved only the nursery and recycling uses as conditioned and excluded acceptance of on-site snow storage. Commissioners directed staff to return with clearer, consolidated findings, conclusions and conditions for the remaining quarry and contractor-yard issues so the record is internally consistent and so that any sunsetting language explicitly ties third-party soil imports and processing to the 2027 deadline.

Next steps: staff will prepare a consolidated set of findings and conditions that reconcile applicant-submitted commitments with the staff report and bring language on quarry and contractor-yard uses back to the commission for further action.