Fisher_Annex_OrdinanceOn Monday February 24th at 6:30PM the Town of Bernalillo will hear Item 7A on the agenda which is the annexation of the currently illegal gravel mine into the Town. Of concern to Placitans is that Fisher asks in the proposed ordinance to be able to mine sand and gravel for 15 years.
4D. As to the entire annexed property, the property owner shall have the right to extract sand, gravel and similar products as a part of the grading process for the property and commercially sell such minerals; provided that this use shall cease and terminate upon the earlier of: (i) completion of final grading for the property; or, (ii; fifteen (15) years after the Effective Date of this Ordinance.
Please come to this hearing and let your voice be heard that you do not want another gravel mine in these proximities. The Town of Bernalillo should also be concerned about the demand on water, spewing dust, noise and truck traffic. The Town Council Chambers are located in Bernalillo at 829 Camino del Pueblo. You can read the entire proposed ordinance by clicking here Fisher_Annex_Ordinance .
Tempe, AZ has been dealing with Fisher Sand & Gravel for a few years. In November 2013 (just a few months ago) the EPA fined them $150,000 for air-quality violations, failure to comply with a dust control plan, failure to clean up dirt tracked from the site, and failure to perform daily soil moisture testing. In 2011, they agreed with Maricopa County to a $1 million settlement for more than 1,000 air-quality violations.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/20131120epa-fines-tempe-gravel-company.html
Tonight the Bernalillo Town Council heard the request for annexation, and ended up tabling the request — meaning that they postponed the decision — after hearing from Fisher’s representatives and a large number of public comments, mostly from Placitas residents.
Mayor Torres and the Councilors raised many of the questions that we in Placitas have had, mainly whether Fisher is really serious about developing this property for commercial/light industrial application, or if their proposal is just a pretext for them to extract as much sand and gravel from there as they can, then do no actual development. Fisher announced tonight that they were lowering the time they were asking from 15 years to 7 years, but ES-CA board members stated that the time allowed for “grading” should be closer to 18 months to 2 years. Having tabled the ordinance, the Council asked that the Fisher representatives meet further with the Town Planning Department, so as to better address the concerns that were raised.
ES-CA will continue to monitor activity on this and other projects in the area. If you can, please volunteer to be an ES-CA Watchdog, and help us to be on top of these issues.