Gravel pit project along Arkansas River gets OK

A controversial proposed gravel pit in Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley got a green light from Pueblo County officials, clearing the way for industrial digging in a historic farming district along the Bessemer irrigation canal to begin as soon as this fall.

But farmers fighting the project said they will appeal a 5-1 decision by planning and zoning commissioners Monday night. And the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union weighed in, saying this case illustrates a disturbing trend in Colorado where developers drive away ranchers and farmers.

A 16-year battle over the gravel mine has pitted producers of garlic, chilis, carrots and other crops against Cañon City-based Fremont Paving and Redi Mix, which contends the mine is necessary to supply 1 million tons of gravel a year for continued roadbuilding and commercial construction.

The mining would mean scooping out rock from under the Badger Hills, rolling prairie above farms and the floodplain that serves as habitat for birds, foxes and bees that pollinate crops.

Pueblo County planners in 2001 and 2012 rejected gravel mining, calling it incompatible in an agricultural area.

“If we don’t have gravel sources in Pueblo County, we would have go somewhere else to find gravel. And that just increases the cost,” Fremont’s chief of operations Jodi Schreiber said.

“This is environmentally friendlier because it would keep trucks off the road. Hauling gravel 40 or 50 miles, that’s not efficient,” Schreiber said. “It’s just like buying produce: You want to get it as close to home as possible.”

Developers have relied on other gravel mines around Pueblo County, including one run by Fremont, she acknowledged. “But those sources are being depleted.”

Some farmers east of Pueblo, upstream of the proposed gravel mine, have sold easements granting Fremont access across their land.

The farmers opposing the mine said they will appeal to the Pueblo County commission within 10 days. They argue that scooping gravel from land near farms is an intrusion that would hurt them economically, bringing noise, dust, truck traffic and sediment runoff that could clog or at least impair water quality in the Bessemer canal.

Pueblo planning and zoning commissioners, after their vote Monday night, declined to discuss the issue.

Planning commissioner Donald Thorne, who cast the lone vote against the mine, announced he would resign after the vote.

“I felt like it would adversely affect too many people,” he said.