August 28th Commissioners Meeting

The Fremont County Commissioners finalized a list of conditions for a conditional use permit for a gypsum quarry at Coaldale at Tuesday's regular meeting. The Commissioners had approved the permit for the Holcim cement company at the August 14th meeting but postponed adoption of the set of conditions. Holcim contested a handful of the conditions proposed by the Commissioners. In the end the conditions in dispute were settled by Holcim agreeing to the following conditions:

• Hours of operation will be limited from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
  
• Truck traffic will be limited to 20 round trips daily or ten truckloads hauling out.
  
• Paving of County Road #6 from the mine site entrance to Highway 50 specifying a three inch asphalt overlay to be completed by September 1, 2010. The project work is to be coordinated with the County Road and Bridge Department.
  
• Holcim will be responsible for any traffic signs on County Roads 6 & 45 as required by the road foreman.
  
• Holcim must apply an acceptable chemical dust suppressant on the access road from County Road #6 to the mine site and on other portions of the site as needed.
  
• Holcim must install wind monitoring and recording equipment.
  
• Holcim is limited to ten blasting operations per year and must develop a plan which provides a location where a notice is to be posted with the date and time blasting will occur.
  

The Commissioners approved the conditions on a 2 to 1 vote with Commissioner Mike Stiehl dissenting. Stiehl said although the mine used to operate 17 years ago he believes that with the area now primarily residential it is no longer compatible for a mining operation. Commissioner Larry Lasha said he believes the operation can be compatible with the conditions imposed by the Commissioners.

The Commissioners Tuesday also reappointed Keith McNew of Coaldale to another three year term on the Fremont County Planning Commission. The Commissioners said they had four very well qualified applicants who were interviewed for the vacancy. The Commissioners said they typically have tried to appoint a western Fremont County resident to that seat on the Planning Commission.

The Board also made a formal presentation of a $350,000 Community Development Block Grant to Executive Director Roger Jensen of Starpoint. Starpoint used the grant to relocate their administrative offices and adult day services to the former St. Thomas More physical therapy center on South 8th Street in Canon City.

Grant Secured for Road & Bridge Salt-Sand Sheds

The Colorado Department of Local Affairs has notified Fremont County that following review by the state Energy and Mineral Impact Advisory Committee the county will receive a $200,000 grant to help build salt-sand sheds for the Road and Bridge Department. Fremont County had sought $234,000 in grant funds to build salt-sand sheds at each of the four road department shops in the county as part of an estimated $361,000 project.

The sheds will offer both economic and environmental benefits. Storing and mixing the salt and sand under a protective roof from the weather will allow the county to purchase bulk quantities prior to winter snow conditions. Last winter's frequent snow storms left county crews scrambling to find additional salt-sand materials and paying premium prices. Stockpiling the material without protection from the weather would result in the ice melting chemicals being leached out before winter arrives. That would create environmental concerns if the materials leach into the ground.

The Mineral Impact grant application was prepared by foremen in the Road and Bridge Department with guidance from Judy Lohnes of the Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments. The foremen were among several county employees who took part in a grant writing workshop offered earlier this year. The county commissioners praised the employees for taking the initiative to write the grant to help secure the much needed salt-sand sheds.

Key to securing the grant is $25,000 in matching cash funds from the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine. The company supported the grant application because of the estimated sixty Fremont County residents who travel county roads year round to work at the mine in Teller County. In awarding the $200,000 grant the advisory committee did express concern about the low matching funds from the county. County Commission Chairman Ed Norden noted that concern prior to the July 26th grant hearing in Meeker. Norden said the county's continuing fiscal problems and low cash reserves prevent the county from supporting many grant applications with an adequate level of matching cash dollars. The grant application did include over $80,000 worth of manpower and equipment to erect the salt-sand sheds.

The county expects to award bids for concrete, electrical work, and the building kits in the coming weeks in hopes the sheds can be erected in time for use this winter.

August 14th Commissioners Meeting

A 2 ½ hour public hearing concluded Tuesday with the Fremont County Commissioners approving a conditional use permit for a controversial gypsum mine in western Fremont County. The Commissioners voted 2 to 1 to approve the permit for the Holcim Company to reopen the gypsum mine which closed seventeen years ago at Coaldale. Commissioners Ed Norden and Larry Lasha voted to approve the mine while Commissioner Mike Stiehl cast the 'no' vote.

Of the twenty-five people testifying, most of them were opposed to the mining operation arguing that problems with dust, noise, traffic, and blasting would disrupt their peaceful valley. While approving the permit, the Commissioners postponed until their August 28th regular meeting consideration of a list of conditions under which Holcim will be required to operate the gypsum mine. Holcim wants the authority to haul up to ten truckloads of gypsum daily, Monday through Friday, from the mine to their cement plant at Portland east of Florence. Holcim officials said they intend to actually mine and crush gypsum only six months every year and asked for the authority to blast up to ten times per year but with much smaller blasts than when the mine previously was in operation.

The Commissioners Tuesday also approved a two year extension of parking lot paving requirements for the Coyote Coffee Den along Highway 115 in Penrose. Owner Pete Mugasis sought a three year extension but Commissioner Larry Lasha urged him to make the effort to accomplish the paving in two years. The board had already previously allowed a two year extension.

The Commissioners adopted a resolution amending the schedule of fees in the Planning and Zoning Department in four categories. The amended fee schedule calls for a penalty fee of $150 for conditional use permits and special review use permits if permit holders are delinquent in filing their annual reports. Kennel license annual inspection fees are increased from $100 to $200. Persons and companies operating illegally without a required conditional use permit or special review use permit will pay a penalty of double the application fee in order to come into compliance. Thus someone operating illegally without a special review use permit would have to pay double the standard $1,800 application fee.

In other business the Commissioners:

• approved a six month extension of contingencies for the Brill lot line adjustment on 13th Street in the Beaver Park area at Penrose;
• received a quarterly report from Public Trustee Pat McFarland who said foreclosure rates remain high with her office initiating the 200th foreclosure action of 2007 this week;
• and scheduled two public hearings for September 11th. One is for a zone change for property at Elm Avenue Greenhouses in Lincoln Park while the other is for receiving public comment on the designation of Fremont County flood hazard areas as required by the federal government.
  

West Nile Virus Confirmed in Fremont County

The Fremont County Nursing Office reports two human cases of West Nile Virus have been confirmed in Fremont County. County Nurse Clarice Little says the two cases involve a Canon City resident and a Florence resident. They are among sixty human cases of West Nile Virus confirmed in Colorado this summer.

In addition one horse in Fremont County has contracted the virus and one of the mosquito testing pools came back with a positive test for the virus. Fremont County West Nile Virus program coordinator J.R. Phillips says health officials across the state report that while West Nile cases have spiked this summer for the first time since the outbreak in 2003, it appears as though the human cases reported so far have been milder forms of the virus. The Colorado Department of Public Health reports that only three West Nile cases developed into the more severe encephalitis while fifty of the cases involve only a fever. No deaths have been reported.

Clarice Little reminds residents to take necessary precautions against the mosquitoes which carry the virus. She says to observe the 'Four D's' against West Nile Virus.

• Dawn/dusk-Be sure to use protection or avoid being outside during these times of the day, when mosquitoes are most active.
• Dress-Wear loose fitting, lightweight long sleeves and pants when you're outside. For extra protection, spray thin clothing with insect repellent.
• DEET- Whenever you're outdoors, use an insect repellent with DEET (N, N-diethylm-toluamide) or another repellent approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such as products containing picaridin and lemon of eucalyptus oil. DEET products generally provide the longest protection times. Other repellents do work but must be applied more frequently. Follow the label directions, and use products with lower concentrations of DEET on children. Higher concentrations don't protect better; they just provide longer protection.
• Drain-Get rid of standing water in your backyard and neighborhood. Drain any standing water in old tires, flowerpots and clogged rain gutters. These are mosquito-breeding sites. Change the water in birdbaths at least weekly.
  
  August is one of the months posing the highest risk of infection. Infected mosquitoes continue to feed through September and early October depending on the weather. But fewer than ten percent of human cases of West Nile Virus are contracted after Labor Day.
  

Property Value Protest Hearings Concluded

The two month process of hearing property valuation appeals at the Fremont County Assessor's Office and by the Fremont County Commissioners concluded Monday with the final protest hearing before the County Board of Equalization. Assessor Stacey Seifert said the 2007 reassessment year protest was not as heavy as they had anticipated.

Seifert began preparations for the 2007 reassessment shortly after being elected last November. Notices of valuation were mailed to owners of real property in early June. She said that although some taxpayers were shocked by the increases in their property values, the majority understood why it had happened. Seifert said it was apparent that both residential and commercial values had not kept pace with the market for the past five years. The final count for formal protests filed at the Assessor's Office was 1,644, however she says there were probably two to three hundred other property owners who stopped in simply for an explanation and chose not to protest once they understood how the process works and what the numbers mean.

Less than ten percent of property owners appealed the Assessor's decision to the Commissioners who conducted hearings as the Board of Equalization (B.O.E). Commission Chairman Ed Norden said the board conducted 108 B.O.E. hearings on 149 parcels of property from July 2nd through August 6th. Property owners introduced evidence and made arguments for why they believed their property values were overstated. In the final analysis the board made adjustments in values for 94 properties and denied protest petitions from another 55. Norden said property owners who did their research and came prepared to support their arguments were in the best position to get a reduction in value. Norden added that in some cases the assessor uncovered errors and had reached a settlement with property owners before the hearings even started.

Seifert says she believes the process was fair and she doesn't anticipate more than a handful will appeal their values to the State Board of Assessment Appeals. Seifert added "Overall, my staff and I feel that the protest period went very smoothly and that the advance publicity concerning the workload facing the office and our situation went a long way toward preparing property owners for the values indicated on their valuation notices".