{"id":44245,"date":"2021-10-14T18:41:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T00:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-residents-plan-to-challenge-24-7-operations-housing-at-ironwood-mill\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:18:05","slug":"dolores-residents-plan-to-challenge-24-7-operations-housing-at-ironwood-mill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-residents-plan-to-challenge-24-7-operations-housing-at-ironwood-mill\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores residents plan to challenge 24\/7 operations, housing at IronWood mill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The log inventory at the IronWood mill is growing. More than 50 mill workers have been hired, and the company is looking to hire more.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On-site housing for employees, steaming vats and 24\/7 operations at the IronWood mill in Dolores are on the agenda for the Montezuma County Planning and Zoning Commission\u2019s public hearing meeting Thursday, and a group of community members plans to share their concerns.<\/p>\n

The meeting is 6 to 8 p.m. in room No. 205 in the county\u2019s administrative offices at 109 W. Main St.<\/p>\n

The mill, at 27736 County Road T, aims to house employees in six units with 23 bedrooms and five kitchens on 1\u00bd acres of property.<\/p>\n

In addition, the mill intends to install steaming vats for drying logs on a 3-acre portion of bordering property it plans to acquire.<\/p>\n

All mill staff will be laid off through winter because the company has no steaming vats currently installed to dry wood, said Jeff Bunnell, CEO of IronWood Group LLC.<\/p>\n

Previously, the mill ran five days a week in two 10-hour shifts.<\/p>\n

He said the vats wouldn\u2019t generate more noise, traffic or harmful substances.<\/p>\n

Lana Kelly, who runs neighboring Circle C RV Park and Campground, organized a group of RV park residents, other nearby residents and mill workers, which has met to discuss mill operations. They are concerned that 24-hour operation wasn\u2019t previously authorized, and about the addition of the bunk houses and steaming vats.<\/p>\n

Kelly said the group has retained an attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen IronWood first came into the neighborhood everybody was happy \u2013 they\u2019re bringing jobs to Montezuma County, and it seemed like a good thing,\u201d she said. \u201cThen we had all this noise, people couldn\u2019t sleep, there was light shining in everybody\u2019s windows, and actually, it\u2019s quieter during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said residents have complained to the mill and the county Planning and Zoning Department and that it\u2019s a \u201cvery emotional issue for many of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially we embraced IronWood being here because we just did not realize what was going to happen, and we were not properly notified,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

County Planning and Zoning Director Don Haley said public hearings discussed that the mill would look to increase its operation to two or three shifts, running 24 hours a day, as it expanded. The existing high-impact\/special use permit doesn\u2019t explicitly state this, he said, so it\u2019s being amended.<\/p>\n

He said the main reason for the proposed amendment to the mill\u2019s permit is to include a 3-acre parcel of land being sold by the mill\u2019s eastern neighbor, to be used for the steaming vats. Housing units are on site but have not been used or supplied with utilities, he said.<\/p>\n

Bunnell said four units have been leveled on the property, but that they will remain empty until permitted for use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing our due diligence, and we\u2019re going through the proper channels with the county,\u201d Bunnell said.<\/p>\n

Haley said the department wasn\u2019t aware of any plan that would exceed land use standards, and that the mill is monitoring its noise levels, and is working on fire mitigation strategies with the county\u2019s emergency manager.<\/p>\n

Operating hours upset neighbor<\/div>\n

Trent Bishop, who lives in a property bordering the mill, said he assessed daytime noise levels from the mill before recently moving to the area.<\/p>\n

Bishop said he soon realized the machines run into the night \u2013 much later than he had anticipated.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s kind of like a kid that\u2019s been breaking the rules and then asking for somebody to change the rules to give them more leeway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Residents said they were pleased that the mill has brought jobs to the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all happy to have a strong business here,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cWe just want them to be a good neighbor, and continue to do well and play by the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

One man, a resident of a neighboring property and a worker at the mill, said he plans to speak at Thursday\u2019s meeting to complain about the noise .<\/p>\n

\u201cI told my supervisors, I said \u2018This is wrong. What are you going to do about it?\u2019 They just looked at me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Housing needed, CEO says<\/div>\n

Bunnell said the community has not been able to supply enough employees for the mill, and on-site housing would provide housing for outside workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe currently have 72 employees, but we need another 20. Every single day,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t get enough people to run this mill.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the mill pays an average of $57,000 a person per year and provides full benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve invested $15 million into this property in this community to try to make it better and put people to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kelly said she feels surrounding residents haven\u2019t had a say in mill operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like that this is an effort to just turn our neighborhood into an industrial park and drive us out, and we have no choice. Who\u2019s going to buy our properties? Who\u2019s going to stay here? It\u2019s upsetting, because most of us plan on being here forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop said he is concerned about raising his daughter in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many people are they trying to move in there? What kind of people are they trying to move in there?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ed Carpenter, who also lives near the mill, plans to voice his concerns at Thursday night\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re going to be doing is saying we need a master plan for this particular site,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that master plan needs to work within the boundaries and requirements of a good master plan that identifies all of the impacts \u2013 whether they be environmental, whether they be traffic, community-wise, noise abatement, all of that \u2013 in an engineered way, so everyone understands what the carbon footprint of this facility is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Company\u2019s plan for growth will be addressed at a county Planning and Zoning Commission meeting tonight <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42487,"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-44245","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\/44245","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=44245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86018,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44245\/revisions\/86018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44245"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}