by Dick Ulmer, Chairman, ES-CA Land Use Protection Trust Board
We wanted to post the documents that have been filed that relate to the County lawsuit to enforce the terms previously agreed to govern the nonconforming gravel mining in Placitas by Vulcan Materials (previously Lafarge, and before that it was M.T. Investments–the latter of which still hold the Gravel lease, and have subleased to Lafarge/Vulcan). Mt. Adams is the owner of record for the land.
Following is a brief explanation of the various documents (and a link to each):
This is the key document. When the Bernalillo ETZ (the local zoning agency at that time) was putting area zoning into effect (and recognizing that a mining lease existed since 1973), they brought together surrounding residents, developers, and the mining operator to provide input to this certificate (and representatives of each involved party signed the certificate) which allowed this mine to operate in nonconformance with local zoning regulations. However, as a direct result of those discussions, certain terms were formally agreed by the parties and those were documented as terms of the certificate (highlighted areas are mine and represent areas of current violations).
On 4/21/2014, the Sandoval County Attorney filed this complaint in District Court, due to Lafarge’s failure to correct (or even acknowledge) violations of the Nonconformance Certificate (enforcement of zoning in our area now falls with the County, and the ETZ ceased to be).
- Defendant Responses to County Suit:
At various dates, the defendants in the County complaint responded (clearly written as a collaboration between the defendants)—basically stating that the Nonconformance Certificate no longer applies (which would mean that there are no local zoning terms limiting or otherwise governing their operation), and that the County has no right to enforce them or take them to court over this. The County obviously disagrees (and with no public hearing or discussion with the signatories who approved the 1988 Certificate, we would contend that this agreement could not have been set aside).
With the filing of this petition to intervene by members of the ES-CA Land Protection Trust Board of Directors (who individually own homes adjoining or near to the mine), we seek to represent the interests of the Placitas community who have strongly encouraged ES-CA to take this action. With the filed complaint, we not only support the County’s position and charges, but we seek to augment the charges to include violations that the operation is “extending (time) and expanding (intensity)” beyond that which was intended when the nonconformance was permitted.
I have included these which clearly show the violations charged by the County. And since these were taken, most surrounding residents know that the mining activity has substantially expanded and greatly enlarged the “disturbed area” which is the source of much of our dust on NM windy days. (if you have access to Google Earth, go back and look at the size of the area being mined in 1996 and then look at the current area and see how much it has grown and the lack of any visible re-vegetation/reclaiming).
Finally, this document (from a website that tracks court cases) is the current status of the legal action—and shows the various challenges of judges, and that this is now in the hands of the Chief Judge for the court. We hope that our intervention may help to put this on a faster track to a conclusion.
Please email me at the following address if you have questions about this or other mining activities that we are working hard to control.
Dick Ulmer, Chairman
ES-CA Land Use Protection Trust Board