HomeMy WebLinkAbout911616.tiff GogpoN LA-Gy
WELD COUNTY b 11D
COMMISSIONERS `C
i991 HAY 29 LH 9: 23
Muy 24 , 1991 CLERK
TO THE BOARD
Lanell Swanson
Department of Planning Services
915 10th Street
Greeley, CO 80631
Dear Lanell Swanson :
During the first part of April , we brought a truck onto our
property for the purpose of using it to haul junk away.
Our plan was to clean up the property (just as we told
everyone in the USR Proceedings ) and then fill the pond up
(just as we promised Water Resources Division ) and, finally ,
fill in the wetland area that Army Corp. of Engineers gave
us a permit to fill in . In response to bringing the truck
in to start the clean-up, our neighbors started a rash of
complaints and then various county departments started
sending us a rash of "violations" . Most departments sent
us letters that accused us of very serious charges and yet
on the phone said that it wasn ' t all that serious . Neighbors
admitted to using complaints to the county as a tool to
revoke our USR . And in a conversation with a County Commissioner
we were informed that we could lose our USR because of the
volume of complaints . Steve and I cannot believe how such a
simple act of cleaning up our property and filling it -
could be so blown out of proportion.
Steve and I are writing this so that every department and
county commissioner is clear as to what has happened on our
property since the beginning of April .
1 ) As pointed out in the USR Hearing , our property was used
as a junkyard for the last 30 years . Steve and I felt it
was very unfair of the county to accuse us of having a
"noncommercial junkyard" . All of the junk was dumped there
before we purchased it . It was , also, unfair when the
county told us we had to clean up 30 years of trash
dumping in only 30 days (especially since we were on
vacation and didn ' t get the violation notice in the mail
until our return on April 22nd ) .
In the end , we hauled off 12 mattress springs , 19 car seats ,
3 love seats , 11 upholstery chair seat springs , 3 kitchen
tables , 8 kitchen chairs , 2 appliances , 1 water heater ,
16 coils of fencing, barb wire , banding, mufflers , plastic
kid ' s toys , a car battery , 200-300 rusty tin cans , 4 truck
jacks , 8 steel plumbing pipes , and 4 dozen tires .
P1,0780
iijj 911616
.7
1 ) In addition , I had 6 major (all-day ) wood burns . Half
of which werebranches , leaves , and wood shingles that
I pulled down off the banks of Carter ' s property and ,
technically, was on the Carter ' s property and NOT ours .
Steve and I just want to know why the neighbors never
complained about the junkyard on our property until we
started to clean it up. I mean it would have had to be
pretty messy looking for the upholstery and stuffing to
have rotted off of that many mattresses, chairs , car seats ,
etc. ( We found bits of fabric and stuffing amidst the
ruins) . Yet there has never be a complaint until we
started cleaning.
The property is all cleaned up now.
2 ) Army Corp. of Engineers and Health Department agree that
tires are not toxic and can be put in ponds so we disposed
of the 4 dozen tires found on the property in our pond .
However, neighbors complained again (even though you can
NOT see the tires unless you are on our property or get
out of the car and walk across the bar ditch) . We
discussed it with the Health Department and it was okay
to have then there unless we wanted to fill the pond .
Since our next step was to fill the pond, I removed the
tires ( As Mr . Trevor Jiricek can attest to since he
visited our property just as I was finishing the removal
of the tires on May 23rd ) .
The pond is now filled in and , hopefully, order is
restored to the neighborhood .
3 ) All violations are corrected . Although, if our neighbors
would have been patient they would have seen us cleaning
and filling the pond without having a bunch of busy county
employees come out to our land to order us into doing
what we were already in the middle of doing .
Steve and I are totally frustrated . The neighbors are
making us sound like slobs and the County accusses us
of being slobs by issuing "violations" . And we are
out there trying to change a 30 year old gravel pit into
an attractive piece of property in the midst of all this
confusion. All we can do is to invite all of you to please
drive by our property and see for yourself that there are
improvements .
4 ) People ,we subcontract to do some of our work, have parked
on the road to the south of our property. It is the PRIVATE
road of John Kunzman . The county still has a street sign
up that says WCR 24 and the county continues to grade this
road ( I witnessed it in April during the clean-up) . It
looks like a public road but we get in trouble if someone
mistakes it for such . Shouldn ' t the County stop grading
this road and take down the street sign?
5 ) On the west side of our property, is a 30 foot strip of
land used as a right-of-way for WC Road 25`Z . A berm on the
5 ) side of the road has a cut in it and people dumped desks ,
branches , appliances , etc . there . Since it is the County ' s
responsibility, could we request that they clean up the
cut in the berm. By doing this , we are hoping people will
see that the whole area is well cared for and they will
get the hint and stop this cycle of dumping junk on the
property. Thank you very much.
In conclusion, we set out to clean up our property and correct
the mistake of the pond and WE DID. And , although, it was not
our doing, we wish to apologize for the fact that our neighbors
dragged you into all of this unnecessarily. I know you must
find it just as frustrating as we do. I can not speak for our
neighbors and say the issues are resolved but I hope you will
not be bothered about this again .
Thank you foryour ti e and patience .
Sincer ycil7 ;
/ /7li
iM. Nilson
L -911
KMN/km
cc : Lee Morrison , Assistant County Attorney
Trevor Jiricek, Department of Health
Wes Potter , Department of Health
Dick Stenzel , Water Resources Division
Randy Gordon, M.D. , Director
Gordon Lacy, County Commissioner
George Kennedy, County Commissioner
Bill Kirby, County Commissioner
Bill Webster , County Commissioner
Connie Harbert , County Commissioner
Hello