Editor:

I have been a resident of LaPorte since 1976, and have always appreciated the rural, agricultural nature of our small community. As many of you know, Loveland Ready Mix bought the farmland just east of Kintzley Plaza and apartments, across from the Planetarium, for a gravel mining pit and cement batch plant. There will be crushing of gravel as well as cement for recycling. In addition to the apartments, there is a subdivision of single family homes just west of the property, and numerous other homes in adjacent and surrounding areas.

There are obvious concerns about the adverse affects from the noise, dust, diesel fumes, and back-up beepers from the mining and crushing operations. The proposed 300 truck trips a day turning from and onto 54G could pose a hazard to the community. There is a lot of school bus traffic, with many stops on 54G. The proposed hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the winter and 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the summer, with possible 24-hour per day operations for specific jobs.

Citizen input is important. Please contact Rob Helmick of the Larimer County Planning Department at 970-498-7682 or rhelmick@larimer.org and our county commissioners if you have questions or concerns.

Hopefully, they will rethink allowing a mining operation this close to so many homes. If not, our input can result in more reasonable hours of operation, reducing the scale of the mining, better mitigation of noise and air pollution and safer access for the trucks onto 54G.

Ruth Wallick
LaPorte