Scofield hearing considers banning mining in agricultural zone

Unidentified Speaker 1 opened a public hearing of the Scofield Town Council on May 19, 2025, to consider amending Table 1-32 of the town land-use ordinance to change extraction and mining uses from allowed by special-use permit to 'not allowed' in the agricultural zone.

The proposed amendment would remove mining, extraction of sand and gravel, stone, gas, minerals and petroleum and similar resources from conditional/special-use eligibility in the agricultural zone, meaning any applicant seeking to mine on land now zoned agricultural would need a formal zone change before conducting those activities. "So just, I know we were gonna have this printed off and brought over, but in our table 2 right now, mining is allowed in the agricultural zone by conditional use," Unidentified Speaker 1 said when introducing the item.

Council members and other meeting participants discussed the practical limits of the change. Unidentified Speaker 3 described town-owned surface operations near the mine site — including a warehouse, office, shower building, topsoil pile, coal loadout and shops — and said a considerable amount of their surface operation lies inside town limits. "Their their coal loadout is and also the shops. All the loud stuff is right there. In town property," Unidentified Speaker 3 said, arguing the ordinance change would help curb what can be sited on town property.

Speakers emphasized the amendment would apply only to property within Scofield Town boundaries and would not affect mining operations sited outside town jurisdiction, which would fall under county authority. Unidentified Speaker 2 said the council must follow the ordinance-change process — a public hearing, then an ordinance vote — and recalled that earlier advice had suggested the town could not change rules once an applicant had applied; after checking with the attorney, he said that is not the case and the town may proceed.

The council requested a jurisdictional map to clarify exactly where county control begins near the road (participants discussed a roughly 100-foot offset), and discussed that making mining 'not allowed' in the agricultural zone would likely require creating or defining an industrial zone for any future mining that the town wished to permit.

At the close of the hearing, Unidentified Speaker 2 moved to end the public hearing related to amending Table 1-32; Unidentified Speaker 1 seconded. The council adopted the motion by a voice vote in favor; the meeting time was recorded as 07:00. No formal ordinance adoption appears in the transcript of this hearing; the public hearing was closed to allow the ordinance process to continue.