HomeMy WebLinkAbout20022803.tiff BEFORE THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
WELD COUNTY, COLORADO
EXCERPT OF VIOLATION HEARINGS CONDUCTED MAY 14, 2002
RE: VI#0200026 - WHISTON
THOSE PRESENT
WELD COUNTY COMMISSIONERS:
GLENN VAAD, CHAIR
DAVID E. LONG, PRO-TEM
WILLIAM H. JERKE
M. J. GEILE
ROBERT D. MASDEN
OTHERS PRESENT:
DONNA BECHLER, ACTING CLERK TO THE BOARD
BRUCE BARKER, COUNTY ATTORNEY
BETHANY SALZMAN, DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING SERVICES
BOB WHISTON
DARREL VANFOSSEN
WARREN LUMAN
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demo-enit Q�ua�r 2002-2803
JCS
1 PROCEEDINGS
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3 GLENN VAAD: The next case is VI #0200026 - Whiston/Vanfossen/
4 Zirk/Nelson.
5 BETHANY SALZMAN: The names listed on the deed are Mr. Darrel
6 Vanfossen, Ms. Cheryl Whiston, Ms. Dani Zirk, and Ms. Robin Nelson. The situs address is
7 8636 County Road 26, Fort Lupton, Colorado 80621. The zone district is agriculture. The legal
8 description is part of the Northeast quarter of Section 4, Township 2 North, Range 67 West of the
9 6th P.M., Weld County, Colorado. There are approximately 164 acres on this site. The initial
10 complaint was received on January 28th, 2002. Five day letter was sent February 4th, 2002, and
11 on March 1st, 2002, a violation letter was issued. On March 28th, 2002, the letter was sent to the
12 property owner, Ms. Whiston, and Ms. Nelson, and Ms. Whiston's attorney, indicating that this
13 case was scheduled to appear before the Board. Uhm, currently the property has a
14 noncommercial junkyard consisting of, as of the inspection yesterday, approximately six
15 vehicles, six to eight vehicles remaining, uhm, there are numerous car doors and probably forty
16 to fifty tires, engines around the property, on the ground, uhm, pile of wood, a pile of debris
17 consisting of, uhm, sheet rock, ah, building material debris, uhm, and several, uhm, storage
18 containers like what you'd see on a, like a bread truck. It's that type of storage container.
19 Uhm, I did do an inspection yesterday and do have video to show the Board. I believe several
20 members of the family are present, uhm, from,my interpretation is, that Ms. Nelson has this
21 particular property, portion of it,but as you will see, the family co-owns it and they're trying to
22 get a Recorded Exemption or some type of application to split off chunks of the land for family
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1 members, so, that is all that I have.
2 CHAIR VAAD: We will see the video please.
3 (Viewed video of property)
4 CHAIR VAAD: Do we have any questions of Bethany? Commissioner
5 Geile.
6 MIKE GEILE: Yeah, if I may, Mr. Chairman. When you take the pink up
7 there, is that the full 160 acres?
8 MS. SALZMAN: Correct
9 COMMISSIONER GEILE: And what part did we just look at with all of
10 these vehicles? Was it twenty-six or nineteen that we were looking at?
11 MS. SALZMAN: I believe it's approximately, I'm trying to, right about
12 here. There's a grove of trees, and most of this material is located, kind of behind the trees, and
13 through the trees.
14 COMMISSIONER GEILE: So, it's just in that area. What's going on
15 with the rest of the property?
16 MS. SALZMAN: Uhm, the only part that this violation was initiated for
17 was this part right here. Yesterday I met with Mr. Whiston on the site, uhm, and have some other
18 avenues that I need to check into. Additionally, I'll be referring this portion of the site to the
19 Health Department because of several oil stains that I saw on the ground where the engines were
20 and where items had been removed, new oil stains, and the pile of building material, construction
21 material.
22 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Let me ask the question another way. Is there
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1 anyone living on the 164 acres?
2 MS. SALZMAN: Yes, I witnessed two stick-built homes, two mobile
3 homes, and some other, uhm, a camper trailer, RV.
4 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Where are they located?
5 MS. SALZMAN: Back on Weld County Road 26, not in association with
6 this property. Their initial complaint was also for a Recreational Vehicle, camper trailer, mobile
7 home being lived in- that's been removed from the site.
8 COMMISSIONER GEILE: The reason I asked, is there anybody living in
9 the area that we've just looked at?
10 MS. SALZMAN: I have not been able to substantiate anyone living there
11 now. Mr. Whiston, yesterday stated that no one is living on that portion of the property anymore.
12 COMMISSIONER GEILE: And, their intent would be to file a Recorded
13 Exemption to split this party, this parcel off, so that they can come up with a commercial
14 junkyard?
15 MS. SALZMAN: I'm not sure of their intent, uhm, and how soon it would
16 take place, uhm, there's some family issues going on that I'm not at full liberty to...
17 COMMISSIONER GEILE: O.K. Where they live right now, is there any
18 violations associated with where the stick-built are and the mobile homes, are those accessory to
19 farm, or how are they structured? Do we have another issue up there?
20 MS. SALZMAN: I need to check into that, I was just that - I just saw
21 yesterday.
22 COMMISSIONER GEILE: O.K. So, the only thing we're hearing this
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1 morning would just be the derelict vehicle area of commercial.
2 CHAIR VAAD: Further questions? Alright, uhm, are any of the owners
3 or representatives of the owner, ah, Whiston, Vanfossen, Zirk, or Nelson present? If you are,
4 would you please step forward. If you would give us your name and address for our records. If
5 it's more convenient for you, if you'd like to sit, you may. Thank you for coming this morning.
6 Please give us you name.
7 BOB WHISTON: My name is Bob Whiston. I live at 8638 WCR 26, Fort
8 Lupton, Colorado. I also have some pictures and some (inaudible)tags and documentation as to
9 mine, my wife's and my attempt to try to get, ah, some of this stuff removed. The pictures here...
10 CHAIR VAAD: We'll be happy to receive them Mr. Whiston, and we
11 will have to keep it if...
12 MR. WHISTON: I understand that. Here's a copy for you and here's a
13 copy for them. When we received the initial letter, we sent, I, my wife and I sent out copies of it
14 to Robin Nelson and prepared a notice to put up on there, to tell them to get it out and then when
15 we received the other one, we sent yet some more letters. That's what these letters are in here, in
16 this packet that you people will be seeing, ah, hopefully. And in the pictures in here, start from at
17 the time the notice was received and go up until yesterday, showing the fact that the place is
18 being cleaned up. Unfortunately, since my wife and I don't really have control over what her
19 sister does, and it was her sister who gave the permission for the initial occupant, occupancy
20 there, we have to go through sending her the notice and then it goes around to the, ah,person
21 who is doing it and if I do catch the person who is,who had the stuff up there, I do talk with
22 him. I talked with him yesterday, and he's working as fast as he can, but he's only one person,
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1 and the stuff that was put on there, that, I guess set off this whole affair was supposed to only be
2 on there temporarily, and unfortunately the person who put it on there has basically disappeared
3 on Mike, the other person who's up there. And so he's having to remove it as much as he can
4 when, in between working and trying to get along with personal stuff, anyhow, so if it usually is
5 only going out on weekends. And he was discussing, we discussed yesterday, he may, maybe
6 having a, ah, a metal recycler come in and pick up a lot of that stuff, cause the guy owes, the guy
7 who left if there owes him a lot of money. But, as for getting it off, it's going off as fast as we
8 can, as he can get it off by doing it on the weekends. So, ah, we can't just suddenly and have it
9 gone, plus the fact that we did not give, my wife did not give permission, to him, it was her sister
10 who did. And we figured this that was,we always figured for all the years while things were
11 going on, that that corner of the property was going to be hers anyhow, and we considered it was
12 hers.
13 CHAIR VAAD: Okay. Are there any questions of Mr. Whiston?
14 Commissioner Geile.
15 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Mr. Whiston, can you tell me how the
16 ownership of this property is structured? We've got 164 acres....
17 MR. WHISTON: Well, okay. Ah, right now, it is all of us, ah, my wife,
18 ah, Mr. Vanfossen and his wife, ah, Dani Zerk and her husband, and Robin Nelson, the primaries
19 being Cheryl Whiston, Darrel Vanfossen, Dani Zirk, and Robin Nelson, have, my wife has
20 7/12ths for the property, co-owned, Darrel Vanfossen has 3/12ths, and each of her sisters have a
21 twelfth.
22 COMMISSIONER GEILE: When you talk about twelfths, is there any
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1 specific area that these twelfths relate to, or is kind of a structured....
2 MR. WHISTON: Well it's, right now until we can get the, ah, until we
3 can get the portions that each person is supposed to, uhm, their twelfths or their 7/12ths, right
4 now it's the whole farm in co-ownership.
5 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Okay, that's what I was after, so if you take a
6 look at the twelfths, like what did you say yours was, 4/12ths? Or
7 MR. WHISTON: No, my wife's is 7/12ths.
8 COMMISSIONER GEILE: 7/12ths, then she would have a 7/12ths
9 responsibility for...
10 MR. WHISTON: But we had, we had done, ah, I guess basically what the
11 boundaries that we were trying to get the property split out in, we had already accepted in the
12 family as being the boundaries of the property that we were taking care of.
13 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Has there been anything recorded in that
14 respect?
15 MR. WHISTON: Ah,we have, the only things we have recorded...
16 COMMISSIONER GEILE: It's just more or less family agreements that
17 you're talking about?
18 MR WHISTON: And, fencelines. Ah, cause it, mainly because of the,
19 part of the problem has been because the County doesn't like to split out 10, a 13.66 acre parcels.
20 COMMISSIONER GEILE: That's true.
21 MR. WHISTON: And, that's what two of the sisters have. That's why
22 it's taken so long for this, why it's taking so long for this to be split out into the...
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1 COMMISSIONER GEILE: But, the fact of it is, you all have equal
2 responsibility to clean this property up.
3 MR. WHISTON: Ah, well, I don't see, the thing is, we didn't have, we
4 didn't take the responsibility to, I mean, we were not asked. For this yard, Robin Nelson went
5 ahead and told her friend, go ahead and put your, store your vehicles out there until you find a
6 place to do it. We were not consulted about it, and I don't think Mr. Vanfossen was consulted
7 about it either. I think Robin just went ahead and did it.
8 CHAIR VAAD: Are there further questions of Mr. Whiston?
9 Commissioner Jerke.
10 BILL JERKE: I guess the big question would be, how much longer would
11 it take to go ahead and come into compliance and remove the rest of the, ah, items?
12 MR. WHISTON: I honestly don't know how much he can move a
13 weekend, and I don't know, you know, how fast a recycler or a , ah, ah, a metal-nacker can move
14 the doors and stuff, the stuff that's out there. Uhm, I know that if it were me, ah, I would
15 probably try to get, you know, a recycler in because I'm physically unable to do heavy work like
16 that. Ah, but I, I can't say it could, it could take up to probably,maybe another couple months
17 for him, if he's just doing it, a truckload at a time, cause all he's got is a pickup and a trailer, a
18 small trailer, a flatbed trailer. I mean, if he has to come in and load the pickup truck, load the
19 trailer, head out to wherever he's recycling this, and then come back again, I don't, I honestly
20 don't know how,how long it would take. Ah, I don't know what he could fit on the trailer and
21 what he could fit in the back of his truck. But, we are trying, the thing is, it is, if you'll notice,
22 we have sent letters out and we put, there's been notices posted down there where it could be
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1 seen, and the pictures show, if you go through the pictures, you show that it has been
2 disappearing at a steady pace since we started this.
3 CHAIR VAAD: Mr. Whiston, are you, do you know if there's anyone else
4 here representing the family or the property?
5 MR. WHISTON: Yes, Darrel Vanfossen over there.
6 CHAIR VAAD: O.K. Uhm, if there are no further questions, thank you
7 for coming. Is, ah, would Mr. Vanfossen, or anyone else like to respond to this? We invite you
8 to do so at this time, if you would. Your choice, if you'd like to have a seat, or if you'd like to
9 use the lectum, okay? Please give us your name and address for our records.
10 DARREL VANFOSSEN: I'm Darrel Vanfossen. I live at 11755 Road
11 Count, Road 19, which is right next to the property that is in discussion here. And, we've been
12 trying to get it divided. We had it set up to divide, and it just don't work out with the County.
13 But, ah, I don't know what else to, I can give you the maps of, of what we've actually done here,
14 of what we've discussed, and show you where the property is.
15 CHAIR VAAD: Well, I'm not sure that's germane to the issue, we're just
16 here on the violation, and we've heard from Mr. Whiston about the efforts to, ah...
17 MR. VANFOSSEN: I've been down there a few times, he's been there,
18 and I know we want it out of there. I've been tying to get them, I tried to get them to stop
19 bringing it in when they was doing it. But, as far as anybody living there, there's nobody living
20 there now. There was a camper trailer down there,but it's gone.
21 CHAIR VAAD: Would you like to comment on the rate that the, ah,
22 debris is being taken off now, or...
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1 MR. VANFOSSEN: Well, I think he was doing good, and then he's kind
2 of slowed down the last couple weeks. I'd say another, oh it takes probably, to get it all right
3 back, clear back in shape, it'd take almost two months.
4 CHAIR VAAD: Okay. Thank you for coming, Mr. Vanfossen. Is there
5 any questions? Commissioner Geile.
6 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Mr. Vanfossen,just,just for my, for my
7 understanding, who is it that was bringing the debris onto the property? I've heard two segments
8 and I want to make sure I understand it.
9 MR. VANFOSSEN: His name, I've got his name and address, his name
10 and phone number here. The one that actually brought this ek, this ek, the big junk pile here.
11 His name is Danny Koonce. K-U, or Kulp, K-U-L-P, Jr. And his phone number is
12 720-404-3141. And he operates under Pak-Rat, P-A-K dash R-A-T Battery Service.
13 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Okay, and who authorized him, again, to put,
14 destroy this, or to put this
15 MR. VANFOSSEN: A friend of Robin's.
16 COMMISSIONER GEILE: And Robin....
17 MR. VANFOSSEN: Robin Nelson, the...
18 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Robin Nelson, that's what I wanted to
19 establish. That's what I had read....
20 MR. VANFOSSEN: It's her friend that authorized this guy to do it, with
21 Robin's permission, I assumed.
22 CHAIR VAAD: Okay. Thank you. Are there any questions? Thank you
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1 very much for coming. All right. If's there's no one else, ah, from the property owners or
2 representatives here, let the record show there's no indication there is. Is there anyone in the
3 audience who would like to comment on this violation? If you would please, step forward and
4 give us your name and address and thank you for coming this morning.
5 WARREN LUMAN: My name is Warren Luman. I live at 8737 County
6 Road 24. My family owns the property directly to the South. And from what I'm hearing, I
7 guess we're fairly satisfied with what Mr. Whiston and Mr. Vanfossen's plans are to clean up the
8 area. The only thing I would ask is that Ms. Salzman follows up on this, because it's been my
9 experience in the past that, on other property I've had, that once wrecked vehicles and this kind
10 of trash get into an area, if it's not followed up on, it remains there. Ah, I don't know if this is
11 pertinent, but, since we're talking about the 164 acres, we've also been fighting, ah, Russian
12 Thistles. I mean, the last couple years have been terrible, and I checked with the Weld County
13 Weed, and ah, their department, that is. Russian Thistles are not a noxious weed, so there's
14 nothing they can do about it,but, ah, there's probably thirty(30) to fifty(50) acres that, ah, have
15 just been terrible. And since we're on the south end, the property owner directly to the west of us
16 is also threatened by this, ah, these weeds have just been terrible. In fact, the neighbor figures he
17 lost four to five thousand dollars worth of alfalfa hay last year because of the thistle seed. Not
18 only that, it's a tremendous fire hazard over there. So, in addition to them cleaning up the
19 junkyard, if there's anything the County could do to ah, at least keep the weeds disced, or
20 bushhogged during the summer, it'd really be appreciated by all the neighbors to the south. So
21 there, again, if, we're satisfied with their intents to clean up the area, if the County will sure
22 follow up on it..
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1 CHAIR VAAD: Thank you, Warren. Are their questions? Thank you
2 very much for coming. Is there anyone else who would like to speak to this violation? Let the
3 record show there isn't and I'll close that portion of the hearing. Uhm, staff recommendation?
4 MS. SALZMAN: Uhm, I, I suppose that staff would support sixty days.
5 Uhm, our only concern is that it arose so quickly, uhm, that the speed in getting it off should be
6 as quickly. Done as quick. Uhm, staff will support sixty days.
7 CHAIR VAAD: Okay. Commissioner Jerke.
8 COMMISSIONER JERKE: Just a question of Bethany. I guess when you
9 hear, uhm, the gentleman testify concerning the weed violation, is that something you do then, is
10 to communicate to Ron Broda, of the weed complaint in that area?
11 MS. SALZMAN: I will check with Ron Broda, uhm, as he indicated, it
12 wasn't a noxious weed, and unfortunately, if it's not a noxious weed, our, the County's hands are
13 tied.
14 COMMISSIONER JERKE: Well, I think Ron should make the
15 determination whether something is noxious or not.
16 MS. SALZMAN: Right.
17 CHAIR VAAD: Okay, If there are no further questions, is there a motion.
18 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Mr. Chairman, I would move that case
19 number VI0200026, Whiston/Vanfossen/Zirk/Nelson be referred to the County Attorney but to
20 delay action for sixty days to enable the parties to clean the party, or clean up the property and
21 come into compliance.
22 CHAIR VAAD: Is there a second?
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1 COMMISSIONER JERKE: Second.
2 CHAIR VAAD: It's been moved by Commissioner Geile, seconded by
3 Commissisoner Jerke, to refer case 0200026 Whiston/Vanfossen/Zirk/Nelson to the County
4 Attorney,but delay action sixty days. No further discussion, all in favor signify by saying "Aye".
5 COMMISSIONER LONG: Aye.
6 COMMISSIONER JERKE: Aye.
7 COMMISSIONER GEILE: Aye.
8 COMMISSIONER MASDEN: Aye.
9 CHAIR VAAD: Opposed same sign? Passed unanimously. Thank you
10 and thank you for coming this morning.
11
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1 CERTIFICATE
2 I, CAROL A. HARDING, Deputy Clerk to the Board of County
3 Commissioners and a Notary Public of the State of Colorado, appointed and commissioned by
4 the Secretary of State, do hereby certify that the foregoing was transcribed from the taped
5 recording of the violation hearings heard by the Board of County Commissioners on May 14,
6 2002, which was recorded at the Weld County Centennial Center, 915 10`h Street, Greeley,
7 Colorado,by Donna Bechler, Acting Clerk to the Board; and that the foregoing is an accurate
8 transcript of the proceedings at that time.
9 I further certify that I am not related to any party herein or their counsel,
10 and that I am employed as Office Manager Coordinator and Deputy Clerk to the Board in the
11 office of the Weld County Clerk to the Board.
12
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my
14 Notarial Seal this 16th day of October, 2002.
15
16471- //1,/
17 ,gyp jtY Pot CAROL A. HARMING_
18 �jO Deputy Clerk to the Board and Notary Public
19
20 My Com ssi4nCAR %*A 8, 06
21 ? HARDING
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