Planning commission recommends denial of proposed log export yard after residents raise road, noise and environmental concerns

The Estes County Planning Commission voted to forward a recommendation of denial to the Board of Supervisors for a conditional use permit sought by Ezzy Forest Exports LLC to operate a log purchasing and aggregation yard on a to-be-divided portion of an 80.86-acre parcel off Tidewater Trail (Route 17) on Montague Road.

Planning staff described the request as a conditional use — not a rezoning — under the Essex County Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance and explained that the county could attach conditions limiting hours, buffers and the precise surveyed use area. But commissioners and a stream of nearby residents said the combination of narrow, state-maintained Montague Road and daily tractor-trailer traffic would create safety, noise and environmental risks the parcel could not absorb.

"It's a public-health danger," said Barb Jump, who identified herself as a board-certified public health professional, citing decibel readings included in hands-on recordings she provided to the commission and warning that repeated exposures above 80–85 decibels can raise stress and cardiovascular risks. "When those noises rise in your cortisol levels, that is hard on your heart."

Brian, a county planning staffer, told the commission the county had advertised the application and that the CUP could be conditioned to apply only to the surveyed use area, to require buffers and to impose time-of-use restrictions. "You can say this is conditioned ... time of use, type of use," he said, while emphasizing the need to reference the exact area in any approval motion so the CUP does not encumber the whole 80 acres.

Neighbors described Montague Road as a narrow, largely single-lane gravel lane with blind curves, tight turns and insufficient pullouts for tractor-trailers to pass or for emergency vehicles to maneuver. "If you meet a tractor trailer on that road, you have no exit," said Jovan Dunn, who said the proposed 7.46-acre area would back his property at 925 Montague Road. Others flagged an estimated 150 containers per month in the application as the basis for hundreds of truck passes each month.

The applicant’s representative said the facility would not be a sawmill but an export yard to load logs into containers, that operations are expected between roughly 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, and that equipment would mainly be loaders with a small debarker used only on a minority of logs. "They will not be cutting logs into boards any shape or form. This is an export yard," the representative said.

Commissioners considered possible conditions — survey points tying the permit to the precise use area, vegetative buffers, setback distances and limits on hours and days — but concluded the site’s traffic, safety and quality-of-life risks outweighed the case for approval. A motion to recommend denial to the Board of Supervisors carried by voice vote.

Next step: The Board of Supervisors will receive the commission’s recommendation and may affirm or reverse it, or set additional conditions of its own.