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Public to remain mum on Mamm Creek Gravel Pit

Carrie Click

It’s a public hearing, but that doesn’t mean the public will be able to speak.

Applicants of the proposed Mamm Creek Gravel Pit east of Rifle are requesting that the public not be allowed to give verbal testimony at the Tuesday, Sept. 4, Garfield County Board of Commissioners meeting. The gravel pit public hearing is set for 1:15 p.m.

Written testimony from the public will be allowed.



Garfield County building and planning director Mark Bean confirmed on Thursday that the Mamm Creek Gravel Pit applicants requested that the commissioners not accept any public comment at the meeting.

Bean said the applicants made the request because the planning department has many questions regarding the proposed pit.



“Rather than going to the hearing and having to meet a number of conditions of approval” from the planning department, Bean said, the applicants would rather address those issues first. County officials will seek verbal public testimony at a later date.

Bean said that he was expecting some resolution to the planning department’s concerns within the next two weeks, but he wasn’t certain of the applicants’ timeline.

Applicants John Martin and Richard Stephenson, both of Carbondale, Scott Balcomb, of Glenwood Springs, and James and Jean Snyder, of Rifle, are collectively known as Roaring Fork Resources Inc. They are seeking approval for a proposed gravel mining and batch plant operation on the Hunt and Snyder ranches 1.8 miles east of Rifle, and north of Interstate 70 and the Garfield County Airport.

The proposed gravel pit operation includes a total of six gravel pits, concrete and asphalt batch plants, sand and gravel stockpiling, a portable shop, an office trailer, a portable scale, ditches and a detention pond. Roaring Fork Resources Inc. plans to mine 400,000 tons of gravel annually, which, based on a total of 4.6 million tons of mined aggregate, puts the life span for the pit at 11.5 years.

The gravel pit has already received permits from the Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but must still address the concerns raised by the Garfield County Building and Planning Department. The operation must receive final approval from the Garfield County Board of Commissioners.


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