{"id":43749,"date":"2021-11-11T20:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T20:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-of-dolores-mill-proposals-meets-public-opposition\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:15:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:15:30","slug":"first-of-dolores-mill-proposals-meets-public-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-of-dolores-mill-proposals-meets-public-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"First of Dolores mill proposals meets public opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John
John Godbout, who was escorted out of a Montezuma County Commissioner's meeting last week, offered his perspective on the Ironwood Mill permit discussed Tuesday.<\/span>Montezuma County YouTube Channel<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The first of a series of Planning and Zoning permits involving the IronWood Mill in Dolores was unanimously approved at the Montezuma County Commissioner meeting Nov. 9, although it was met with public opposition.<\/p>\n

The permit calls for the sale of a 3-acre parcel of land bordering the mill\u2019s property.<\/p>\n

Planning and Zoning Director Don Haley said the land would be stand-alone and would not be a part of mill operations at the onset of its incorporation.<\/p>\n

Then, the land\u2019s future use would be discussed in conjunction with a proposed amendment to the mill\u2019s high impact\/special use permit that would apply to the 3-acre parcel. IronWood proposes to store finished blocks on the land after excavating and filling pits that pose safety hazards, Haley said.<\/p>\n

There would no longer be easement access from the current property owner\u2019s land to the mill, which would prevent liability issues, Haley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not extending on for any other rights or uses or conditions of what and how IronWood operates \u2013 IronWood just happens to be the agent because they are interested in purchasing that parcel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The permit \u2013 along with two others that would grant the mill rights to operate 24\/7 and provide for building steaming vats to warm frozen logs and for building employee housing \u2013 was met with passionate pushback during a Planning and Zoning meeting Oct.14.<\/p>\n

After Haley explained the permit to commissioners Nov. 9, six Dolores residents cited concern, urging commissioners to approve the permit with conditions, deny it or table it.<\/p>\n

County Administrator Shak Powers asked commissioners for guidance on public comment because the previous meeting was \u201cunruly.\u201d The county also has received several \u201cnasty\u201d phone calls, he said.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Jim Candelaria asked the audience to present facts civilly and respectfully.<\/p>\n

John Godbout, manager of Circle C RV Park and Campground, returned to address the commissioners after being escorted out of the previous meeting, when proposed changes to the county land use code were presented. Proposals included increasing the nighttime noise threshold \u2013 currently 55 decibels \u2013 which was stated at an Oct. 26 meeting to be the equivalent to the noise levels a conversation would produce. Godbout made a phone call at the Nov. 2 meeting, hoping to make the point that 55 decibels can be a disturbance.<\/p>\n

A Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy escorted him out, and Candelaria said Godbout\u2019s method of making a point was disrespectful.<\/p>\n

At the Nov. 9 meeting, Godbout thanked Candelaria for dissuading his \u201ctheatrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godbout called for the 3 acres to be incorporated into the mill\u2019s mitigation plan, which Planning and Zoning commissioners requested be created before mill expansion plans commence.<\/p>\n

Other speakers made similar requests and cited issues with light, noise, fear of decreasing property values, and a pile of wood chips, which they believe posed a fire hazard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose concerns haven\u2019t been addressed yet, and adding another 3 acres to it would appear to only compound the problem,\u201d said Dolores resident Mary Ranney.<\/p>\n

She also questioned why the land was being rezoned if its future use hadn\u2019t been determined, although Haley later explained that mostly all subdivisions of land require rezoning.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that the high impact\/special use permit wasn\u2019t yet being reviewed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the facility to be held accountable before proceeding further,\u201d Ranney said.<\/p>\n

Lana Kelly, owner of Circle C RV Park and Campground, said she has put investments into her business on hold because of disturbances from the mill.<\/p>\n

She also worried the 3-acre parcel in discussion was the only buffer between her property and the mill, but Haley said the buffer zone from the mill building would not be altered with the subdivision of land.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask that you require them to provide that complete project plan so that we all can know their intentions going forward and avoid needing to frequently meet here and debate their plans. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve had enough of us, and you\u2019ll be seeing more of us,\u201d said neighboring resident Trent Bishop.<\/p>\n

He also asked for a formal outline of how complaints are registered and responded to.<\/p>\n

Commissioners agreed they had to evaluate the permit as a split and sale of land, and County Attorney Ian MacLaren said he didn\u2019t think there would be impacts on neighboring properties as a result of its approval.<\/p>\n

Commissioners said residents\u2019 concerns would be addressed at meetings about mill expansion and operation.<\/p>\n

Candelaria cautioned the mill, saying commissioners would request mitigation plans for permits, and the slash pile was a concern of his as well.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Joel Stevenson advised the mill to \u201cbe good neighbors.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

acquire 3-acre parcel of land; neighbors concerned about use <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[44,28,167,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85825,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43749\/revisions\/85825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43749"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}