The Rio Arriba County Planning and Zoning Committee has postponed action on a proposed sand and gravel mine near Hernandez once again because the petitioners have failed to hold a meeting in the community itself.
The Bartolome Sanchez Land Grant wants to mine a 103-acre site that is about five miles north of Española and west of Highway 84/285. The site would sit nearly half a mile west of Hernandez Elementary and include a 20-acre “buffer zone” between the area being mined and the community of Hernandez.
Hernandez residents and school personnel have opposed the plan since the first hearing before the Committee April 2 because the Grant plans to build an access road to the mine next to the school. The Committee decided not to officially hear the Grant’s proposal at that earlier hearing because the Grant failed to notify the school of the meeting as required by state law. At the same meeting, members of the Grant’s board of directors said they would arrange a meeting at the school to tell Hernandez residents more about the plan.
The Grant did arrange another meeting, which was held July 8 at the County Commission chambers in Española. Only Española School Board member Leonard Valerio and members of the Grant’s board showed up for that meeting.
Nevertheless at the Aug. 6 meeting, Committee member Richard Bock admonished James Roybal, the chairman of the Grant’s board, for not holding the meeting at the school.
Roybal said the reason the school meeting was never held was because the Grant planned to take concerned residents to the mine site, but worries about liability made the Grant back out of that plan.
Bock made a motion to postpone a decision on the mine pending a public meeting at the school, and the Committee unanimously approved it.
Hernandez Elementary Principal Ben Gurule said he would help arrange the meeting and notify parents about it. He also had issues with the road.
“These kids are gonna be affected everyday,” he said. “Please consider an alternate route.”
Gurule called the road “an accident waiting to happen,” but he also said it would be a big distraction during class time to have trucks rumbling by the school. According to the plan, a maximum of 60 trucks would make round trips to and from the site each day.
“Imagine the teachers trying to teach when this is going on,” he said. “It’s just too close, Mr. Roybal.”
The Grant’s board has suggested mitigating measures to lessen the impact of the access road.
Roybal said the road would be paved for the first 2,500 feet from the highway to reduce dust, noise and vibration, and the plan now includes an additional barrier between the school’s playground and the road. Roybal said the barrier would block the view of the trucks and cut down on noise.
Hernandez resident Gilbert S. Sanchez asked Roybal what kind of wall he was proposing to put between the road and the school. When Roybal said it would be a chain link fence with meshing, groans were audible from the audience, which included about 50 Hernandez residents, and Roybal later backed away from the claim that it would be very effective at reducing noise.
Committee member Maria Markenstyn said the exhaust and dust produced by the trucks could negatively affect students’ health.
“Air pollution is a big problem,” she said. “Trucks are a big part of that.”
Mustafa Chudnoff, a senior hydrologist with Glorieta Geoscience who helped the Grant develop the plan, said the state Air Quality Bureau would oversee the operations and make sure the trucks weren’t emitting high levels of pollutants. He also emphasized the strength of the County ordinance governing sand and gravel mines, saying the mine’s permit could be revoked if it comes out of compliance.
But no amount of assurances from the presenters could get the audience away from the road issue.
“My concern is for the safety and the health of the kids,” Valerio said. “We have legal rights, too, and if we have to exercise these rights, we will.”
Also contained in Bock’s motion was a provision that the Grant look closer at an alternate access road.
An alternate road has been drawn into the plan. It would lead south from the mine site, instead of east toward the school, and emerge near 31-Mile Road. However, members of the Grant have said it would be prohibitively expensive.
“We’ve looked at it preliminarily,” Roybal said. “Anything can be done with unlimited resources. We really don’t have unlimited resources.”
Bock told Roybal to take a closer look.
“This is not going to work,” Bock said of the road near the school.
As he did at the April hearing, Bock also took issue with the Grant’s use of the term “land grant” despite being a private corporation.
“You have misrepresented yourself,” he said. “You are not a land grant.”
Grant board member Chris Roybal was upset after the hearing.
“Mr. Bock is a piece of work,” he said. “We’re not here to be lectured about our corporate status. We’re here for a zoning change. That’s ridiculous.”
James Roybal said he was disappointed with the postponement because a lot of work has gone into the plan, but he said he will be ready to move forward again.
“It’s part of the process,” he said.
The meeting at Hernandez Elementary had yet to be scheduled as of Tuesday.