TAASQ Legal Defense Fund 2020
Spende geschützt
Note: This fundraiser has been organized on behalf of TAASQ, a nonprofit corporation representing residents of the neighborhoods in the vicinity of the proposed Stroh Pit gravel mine. Terry Baldino represents TAASQ as Board President. All money raised goes to defending our neighborhoods and is managed by both the President and Treasurer of TAASQ with additional oversight by the other Board members.
We are fighting against a decision that will take so much from so many!
Thompson Area Against Stroh Quarry (TAASQ) launched an offensive in 2016 in an effort to protect the homes of the Thompson Crossing and Thompson River Ranch homeowners. Coulson excavation is seeking to change the land use of the currently zoned, agricultural land between the two communities via a Special Use Permit. If approved, a fifty acre gravel mine would operate 6 days per week, 10 hours per day in the center of our beautiful neighborhoods, creating noise, immense amounts of dust, environmental and health hazards and enormous property value losses for the homeowners.
“The obvious land use challenge with any gravel extraction operation is that it is one of the most visually unappealing and surface damaging uses in the County that can occur on very large tracts of land.”
-- Garfield County (CO) gravel extraction management plan.
Mining is not a right of the landowner when the land is zoned for agriculture. It requires a Special Review and a zoning change to industrial use. In 2016, 23 years after purchasing the property, Coulson Excavating pursued a Special Review application to allow the company to mine sand and gravel on 133 acres adjacent to the Big Thompson River and surrounded by our community. Mining would occur as close as 266 feet from many of our homes and an 1/8 of a mile from an EC-8 school!
We believe a gravel mine in such close proximity to our homes and a school does not meet two of Larimer County’s six review criteria required for approval:
(1) The proposed use will be compatible with existing and allowed uses in the surrounding area and be in harmony with the neighborhood
(2) The proposed use will not result in a substantial adverse impact on property in the vicinity of the subject property.
Despite one county commissioner saying that he saw no way to make this gravel mine compatible with a residential area, the Larimer Board of County Commissioners voted 2-1 to approve the application. In 2018, TAASQ took Coulson Excavating and Larimer County to court, and in 2019, the District Court ruled in our favor, invalidating the County’s decision to allow mining. The Court concluded that TAASQ’s due-process rights were violated and we were deprived of our right to a fair hearing.
Coulson Excavating and Larimer County are now appealing the District Court’s decision to the Colorado Court of Appeals. TAASQ is raising the money to pay for representation during this next round of legal proceedings. The attorneys at Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe have done an amazing job of representing our neighborhoods. Because of their efforts we now have the upper hand.
We need your help to stop this quarry!
A gravel pit has no place in the heart of our neighborhoods. This pit threatens our health, our homes and property values, and our quality of life.
A gravel pit will bring:
1. Air quality issues including potential exposure to crystalline silica dust, a known carcinogen. The air quality standards the Stroh Pit operators promise to meet notably apply only to healthy adult individuals; not to children or those with pre-existing respiratory and circulatory issues.
Below is a picture taken down the road from our neighborhood at Bonser Pit (which is also owned by Coulson Excavating).
2. Heavy truck traffic on the frontage road that is the access to our community: as many as 200 one-way haul truck trips per day which averages out to 20 per hour or one every 3 minutes.
3. A daily barrage of repetitive mechanical noise, dust and exhaust. Noise levels up to 80 dB (similar to that of a garbage disposal).
“Based on our experience with noise at aggregate mining operations, the close proximity of [this] operation to residences will be a challenge. We have found that noise levels below those specified in the ordinance can still be bothersome to neighbors. When noise complaints occur, they are very difficult to resolve.”
-- Larimer County Department of Health and Environment commenting on the Coulson Excavation application to mine.
4. Loss in property value. Up to 30% decrease for homes adjacent to the gravel pit and at least 5% for homes as far as three miles away! This loss in value is permanent.
5. Aesthetic degradation. Due to the topography of our area, a 12-foot berm will not hide the gravel pit operation from us, nor will it contain the dust.
6. The Stroh Pit property lies almost entirely within the 100-year flood plain of the Big Thompson River, and almost all this area was underwater in 2013. During flood events, the floodplain helps to absorb and slow down flood waters. Floodplains protect water quality and help the recharge of groundwater. Gravel pit operations destroy these functions.
“If a gravel pit is located within the floodplain there is a reasonable chance that it could be flooded during its operational life. Equipment, machinery, fuel etc. could become pollutant sources in the case of a flood. In addition, if the pit is located near the floodway of a river there is the possibility that in a flood a gravel pit could alter the natural course of a river. This can have negative impacts on a river ecosystem and unknown impacts on nearby landowners.”
-- Garfield County (CO) gravel extraction management plan.
The monetary gain from a single gravel operation is not worth the long-term effects on so many families, their homes, and the environment.
Help us stop this. Join us and fight a decision that will take so much from so many.
Thank you,
The Board of TAASQ
[E-Mail ausgeblendet]
For more information:
https://thompsonareaagainststrohquarry.info
*The TAASQ By-Laws have a special clause that any unused funds in the defense of the neighborhood will be RETURNED TO THE HOMEOWNERS who have contributed to the fund.
We are fighting against a decision that will take so much from so many!
Thompson Area Against Stroh Quarry (TAASQ) launched an offensive in 2016 in an effort to protect the homes of the Thompson Crossing and Thompson River Ranch homeowners. Coulson excavation is seeking to change the land use of the currently zoned, agricultural land between the two communities via a Special Use Permit. If approved, a fifty acre gravel mine would operate 6 days per week, 10 hours per day in the center of our beautiful neighborhoods, creating noise, immense amounts of dust, environmental and health hazards and enormous property value losses for the homeowners.
“The obvious land use challenge with any gravel extraction operation is that it is one of the most visually unappealing and surface damaging uses in the County that can occur on very large tracts of land.”
-- Garfield County (CO) gravel extraction management plan.
Mining is not a right of the landowner when the land is zoned for agriculture. It requires a Special Review and a zoning change to industrial use. In 2016, 23 years after purchasing the property, Coulson Excavating pursued a Special Review application to allow the company to mine sand and gravel on 133 acres adjacent to the Big Thompson River and surrounded by our community. Mining would occur as close as 266 feet from many of our homes and an 1/8 of a mile from an EC-8 school!
We believe a gravel mine in such close proximity to our homes and a school does not meet two of Larimer County’s six review criteria required for approval:
(1) The proposed use will be compatible with existing and allowed uses in the surrounding area and be in harmony with the neighborhood
(2) The proposed use will not result in a substantial adverse impact on property in the vicinity of the subject property.
Despite one county commissioner saying that he saw no way to make this gravel mine compatible with a residential area, the Larimer Board of County Commissioners voted 2-1 to approve the application. In 2018, TAASQ took Coulson Excavating and Larimer County to court, and in 2019, the District Court ruled in our favor, invalidating the County’s decision to allow mining. The Court concluded that TAASQ’s due-process rights were violated and we were deprived of our right to a fair hearing.
Coulson Excavating and Larimer County are now appealing the District Court’s decision to the Colorado Court of Appeals. TAASQ is raising the money to pay for representation during this next round of legal proceedings. The attorneys at Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe have done an amazing job of representing our neighborhoods. Because of their efforts we now have the upper hand.
We need your help to stop this quarry!
A gravel pit has no place in the heart of our neighborhoods. This pit threatens our health, our homes and property values, and our quality of life.
A gravel pit will bring:
1. Air quality issues including potential exposure to crystalline silica dust, a known carcinogen. The air quality standards the Stroh Pit operators promise to meet notably apply only to healthy adult individuals; not to children or those with pre-existing respiratory and circulatory issues.
Below is a picture taken down the road from our neighborhood at Bonser Pit (which is also owned by Coulson Excavating).
2. Heavy truck traffic on the frontage road that is the access to our community: as many as 200 one-way haul truck trips per day which averages out to 20 per hour or one every 3 minutes.
3. A daily barrage of repetitive mechanical noise, dust and exhaust. Noise levels up to 80 dB (similar to that of a garbage disposal).
“Based on our experience with noise at aggregate mining operations, the close proximity of [this] operation to residences will be a challenge. We have found that noise levels below those specified in the ordinance can still be bothersome to neighbors. When noise complaints occur, they are very difficult to resolve.”
-- Larimer County Department of Health and Environment commenting on the Coulson Excavation application to mine.
4. Loss in property value. Up to 30% decrease for homes adjacent to the gravel pit and at least 5% for homes as far as three miles away! This loss in value is permanent.
5. Aesthetic degradation. Due to the topography of our area, a 12-foot berm will not hide the gravel pit operation from us, nor will it contain the dust.
6. The Stroh Pit property lies almost entirely within the 100-year flood plain of the Big Thompson River, and almost all this area was underwater in 2013. During flood events, the floodplain helps to absorb and slow down flood waters. Floodplains protect water quality and help the recharge of groundwater. Gravel pit operations destroy these functions.
“If a gravel pit is located within the floodplain there is a reasonable chance that it could be flooded during its operational life. Equipment, machinery, fuel etc. could become pollutant sources in the case of a flood. In addition, if the pit is located near the floodway of a river there is the possibility that in a flood a gravel pit could alter the natural course of a river. This can have negative impacts on a river ecosystem and unknown impacts on nearby landowners.”
-- Garfield County (CO) gravel extraction management plan.
The monetary gain from a single gravel operation is not worth the long-term effects on so many families, their homes, and the environment.
Help us stop this. Join us and fight a decision that will take so much from so many.
Thank you,
The Board of TAASQ
[E-Mail ausgeblendet]
For more information:
https://thompsonareaagainststrohquarry.info
*The TAASQ By-Laws have a special clause that any unused funds in the defense of the neighborhood will be RETURNED TO THE HOMEOWNERS who have contributed to the fund.
Mitorganisatoren (4)
Lisa Kelty
Organisator
Johnstown, CO
Terry Baldino
Spendenbegünstigte
Cristi Baldino
Mitorganisator
Arlene Libby
Mitorganisator
Beth Buczynski
Mitorganisator