{"id":52414,"date":"2020-07-31T19:10:22","date_gmt":"2020-08-01T01:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/manure-dumped-in-middle-of-durango-neighborhood-raises-alarm\/"},"modified":"2020-08-01T01:10:22","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T01:10:22","slug":"manure-dumped-in-middle-of-durango-neighborhood-raises-alarm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/manure-dumped-in-middle-of-durango-neighborhood-raises-alarm\/","title":{"rendered":"Manure dumped in middle of Durango neighborhood raises alarm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Boulders
Boulders at Escalante residents Kathy Myrick, left, Joanie Leonard, center, and Sean Clifton say piles of dirt that the company Lucky 7 has been dumping next to their homes in southeast Durango have caused dust, noise and smell issues.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An excavation and concrete company operating without a permit was told to stop after residents raised concerns over noise, dust and the smell of manure throughout a neighborhood in southeast Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stench is just god-awful,\u201d said Kathy Myrick, who lives in the Boulders at Escalante townhomes near Home Depot. \u201cIt has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The property in question, located between the Boulders at Escalante townhomes and the Rocket Pointe Apartments just south of downtown Durango, has historically been used as a truck yard.<\/p>\n

The land is known as an enclave, which means it is under La Plata County jurisdiction but surrounded by properties annexed into the city of Durango.<\/p>\n

Around March, residents in the area started to notice more trucks dumping piles of dirt and other material, said Sean Clifton, president of Boulders at Escalante Homeowners Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t until they started trucking in equal quantities of manure \u2013 that\u2019s when everyone started to notice and it became a big problem,\u201d Clifton said.<\/p>\n

\"Lucky
Lucky 7 Co. has been dumping piles of dirt and manure in between the Rocket Pointe Apartments and the Boulders at Escalante townhomes in southeast Durango. La Plata County officials have sent the company a notice of violation for operating with no land-use permit.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Residents reached out to the Lucky 7 Co., which operates in Durango and Ignacio, but Clifton said the owner never ended up agreeing to meet. The land is owned by Florida-based Escalante Partners LLC and is leased by Lucky 7.<\/p>\n

So, residents reached out to La Plata County officials and the state\u2019s Air Pollution Control Commission.<\/p>\n

Megan Graham, spokeswoman for the county, said the land is permitted for use as a truck yard \u2013 not the topsoil processing being conducted by Lucky 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they are not operating under a valid land-use permit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

County officials tried to reach the Lucky 7 owner, as well as the property owner, through multiple letters and notices in early June, but never heard back, Graham said.<\/p>\n

A notice of violation was sent at the end of June, Graham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t gone through the proper channels,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The issue is now with the county attorney\u2019s office and will be discussed with La Plata County commissioners in the coming weeks during a public meeting.<\/p>\n

\"A
A Lucky 7 Co. representative said piles are half manure and half topsoil. He said there&#x2019;s about 400 cubic yards of material on-site.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A representative with Lucky 7 who answered the company\u2019s phone Thursday disagreed that his company is not using the land properly.<\/p>\n

The man hung up before giving his name and did not return multiple calls Thursday. The company\u2019s listed owner is Ty Brandon Hawkins, according to the Colorado Secretary of State Office.<\/p>\n

The representative said Lucky 7 started dumping topsoil mixed with manure around 2018. He said about 400 cubic yards of material is now at the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any smell there,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just topsoil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man said he was unaware why talks with neighbors didn\u2019t pan out, and he said he has hired an attorney to deal with county permitting issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe history of that place has been a truck yard,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re working with the county now to see why they think it\u2019s changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The registered agent for Escalante Partners LLC is Ronald S. Gelber of Miramar, Florida, who did not return calls seeking comment.<\/p>\n

John Wells with the Wells Group, who is helping sell the property, said Gelber has leased the land to Lucky 7 for the past few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI notified (Lucky 7) that the occupants to the south were concerned and upset with the uses on the property,\u201d Wells said. \u201cHe has been directed to, and I\u2019m assuming he has started talking to the county.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Residents
Residents near the Lucky 7 worksite would like to see piles of manure and topsoil removed. The company has been operating the site since 2018.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Clifton said that since issues have been raised with the county, Lucky 7\u2019s activity at the site has decreased.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s Air Pollution Control Division visited July 15 and July 16 for an inspection, but no activity was going on at the site, said Andrew Bare, a spokesman for the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shouldn\u2019t be interpreted to mean that residents were mistaken about dust or odors,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can only issue a notice of violation when we observe one. We will continue to keep an eye on the site, and we encourage residents to notify us if the situation changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clifton said the odor is unbearable. When the wind picks up, dust whips around the neighborhood and gets into homes. And, residents fear the issue will affect property values.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve lived with trucks parking there, starting their engines late at night or early in the morning,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this manure is so disgusting, we\u2019re really upset now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myrick said she\u2019s concerned about her and her neighbors breathing in the dust that is kicked up from the pile.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to see those piles of dirt and manure disappear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

excavation company is not operating under valid land-use permit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13,28,1512,1745,193,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-government","tag-la-plata-county-officials","tag-land-use","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52414","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=52414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52414"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}