Quarries and Open Space

Elliot Brown, Plan Jeffco

Lafarge Corporation operates its Spec Agg Quarry adjacent to Heritage Square in Golden and has tendered a proposal that would adjust the southern boundary of its quarry through the addition of 60 acres of land currently contained in Matthews-Winter Jefferson County Open Space north of I-70. This proposal represents a complicated open space transaction with great potential benefit to the Jefferson County Open Space (JCOS) program but with wide ranging political, ecological and philosophical ramifications for JCOS, the City of Golden and open space advocates.

The Lafarge quarry, located in Golden, was zoned as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) by The City of Golden in 1977, and operates pursuant to an old mine plan approved by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board and the PUD. According to the latest revision of the PUD, the anticipated lifetime of the quarry extends approximately to the year 2005. Lafarge wishes to extend its quarry operations beyond the currently anticipated lifetime via the proposed boundary adjustment. Reasonable economic estimates indicate that Lafarge will significantly benefit from the increased production as well as through the maintenance of a quarry operation strategically located to Front Range construction projects, given the difficulties in permitting new quarries along the Foothills corridor.

Beginning in Spring of 2000, Lafarge floated their proposal amongst local environmental groups. More recently, they made presentations to citizen groups and the City of Golden to garner support for a formal proposal that was made to the JCOS Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC) on February 7 of this year. If OSAC finds the proposal to have merit it will recommend that the Board of County Commissioners approve that the transaction go forward.

The major elements of the proposed transaction are:

Transfer of 60 acres of Matthews-Winter JCOS on the southern border of the quarry to Lafarge. Currently this open space has no trails and is not accessible.

Transfer of three parcels in the vicinity of the quarry and adjacent to JCOS lands, totaling 60 acres, to JCOS.

Contingent on the boundary adjustment, Lafarge would donate 463 acres it owns on North Table Mountain to JCOS.

Lafarge would donate the quarry land, including the Mathews-Winter Open Space obtained in the boundary adjustment, back to JCOS at the end of the quarry life.

Lafarge would perform enhanced reclamation of all land quarried and establish a sufficient bond to insure future reclamation

Lafarge would forgo the ability to mine a 106 acre parcel of land on State Land Board, Section 16.

The three parcels, surrounding the quarry, that Lafarge would offer in exchange for open space include a 20-acre commercially zoned parcel adjacent to Hwy 40, that could provide access to JCOS north of I-70, a 30 acre parcel zoned for 212 residential units that currently contains a section of the Apex Gulch Open Space Trail, and a 10 acre parcel that is mountain backdrop. The easement for the section of Apex Trail will expire in 2004.The parcel on Section 16 is in its western portion, is tall grass prairie and is adjacent to land included in the Stewardship Trust and the newly established Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge.

The donation of land on North Table Mountain would substantially complete preservation of that mesa as open space and is certainly an attractive outcome, given the passionate efforts to preserve the Mesas and its high acquisition priority in the JCOS Master Plan. Preservation of parcels surrounding the Spec Agg Quarry, that are currently under threat of development is a positive aspect of the proposed transaction. The acquisition and preservation of trail head access to Open Space is also certainly a worthy outcome. The preservation of a tall grass prairie community on Section 16 also contributes to the establishment of a wildlife corridor between the foothills west of SH93 and the Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge and is, therefore, a desirable result.

However, probably as important is the opportunity, as part of an agreement on the transaction, to bind Lafarge or any of its successors to a reclamation program that is state of the art, rather than merely the minimum required by State Law. Lafarge currently employs a "mine from behind" technology that diminishes the visibility of operations as mining takes place. They also perform a more comprehensive reclamation than required by the State of Colorado. However, details of future implementation, costs of reclamation and auditing of the reclamation process have not been established and need to be made a part of the agreement. Lafarge has been a good corporate neighbor in this regard but the actions of potential successors must be insured.

Specific aspects of the proposed transaction and their impact on value to the Open Space program should be considered in light of other possibilities.

First, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has contacted Lafarge regarding intent to obtain part of the offered 20 acre parcel on the south for construction of a larger parking lot to serve the I-70 corridor. Lafarge has stated that any condemnation of offered land by CDOT would be compensated by additions to other parcels. However, it is unknown how large future CDOT land needs will actually be, given their expressed intention to build a huge transportation hub north of I-70 and the possibility of a monorail up this corridor. In addition, it is unknown how CDOT condemnation of this land would affect the viability of a trailhead on this parcel. These developments could severely impact the value of offered land as open space.

The donation of the quarry to JCOS at the end of mining may be more complicated than is readily apparent. The quarry land is in the City of Golden and the governing PUD identifies the City of Golden as an important player in future land use and reclamation requirements. Approval of the proposal should reflect this aspect.

The offer of mining rights to Section 16 land is problematic. Lafarge's willingness to forgo mining on Section 16 does not necessarily protect it from mining given the fiduciary responsibility of the State Land Board to derive royalty revenue from the property.

Regardless of the specifics of the proposed transaction, a philosophical and very controversial issue must be considered- the disposal of existing Open Space.

To provide historical perspective, in 1991 a similar proposal was tendered by Western Mobile (a predecessor of Lafarge) in which North Table Mountain property would be exchanged for 100 acres of Matthews-Winter Open Space adjacent to the quarry. For a variety of reasons, including the distasteful precedent of disposing of existing open space for a commercial operation, and despite the allure of North Table Mountain land, the proposal was rejected by JCOS, PLAN Jeffco and other environmental groups.

More recently, the sex offender group home debacle served to illustrate the pitfalls of land transactions that involve mixed funding, mixed land use and the Open Space program. Many who testified at the hearings pointed out that the credibility of the JCOS program had been diminished when Open Space properties had been considered as a site for the home and that access to an Open Space acquisition had been effectively restricted by inappropriate land use of adjacent property. Subsequently, Open Space policy has been amended to provide controls and checks on the process by which Open Space is acquired and disposed of. Specifically, if Open Space is disposed of for any reason it must provide an overwhelming net scenic and ecological benefit to the program. Thus, the Lafarge proposal represents the first test of the new policy and as such, should and will undergo intense scrutiny.

As the Front Range progresses to "build out", as the pool of open lands dwindles, open space acquisitions will, of necessity, have to be more creatively crafted. We want the JCOS program to have the required flexibility but not at the expense of the values of hard won Open Space. The Lafarge proposal for a boundary adjustment represents a potential benefit to the Open Space program if all the details can be worked out.