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The information below relates to the Transit Mix proposal to
build a concrete batch plant in the Town of Palmer Lake.
Click here for information on the Transit Mix and Trans-Colorado Concrete
proposals to build concrete batch plants in the Town Monument.
 | Topics
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| Background
 | Read Facts about Palmer Lake 
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| Transit Mix has proposed building a concrete batch
plant near the intersection of State Highway 105 and County Line Road. |
| The purpose of a concrete batch plant is
to combine Portland cement powder with water, sand, aggregates, and
other material to form a mixture that can be transported to job sites
for pouring. |
| Download the revised February 20, 2001
proposal in PDF (portable document format). If you don't already have
it, you will need to download and install the free Adobe
Acrobat Reader to view or print
these files. To reduce download times, the document is split into
four segments:
 | Sections 1 through 4 (1: Letter of
Introduction, 2: Land Owner's Authorization, 3: Letter of Intent, 4:
Application for Conditional Use Permit - 401 KB, about 2.5 minutes
to download at 28.8) |
| Sections 5, 6, 8, and 12 (5: Legal
Description of Proposed Site, 6: Vicinity Map, 8: Adjoining Property
Owners, 12: Palmer Lake Municipal Code, Chapter 17.40 - 279 KB,
about 1.5 minutes to download at 28.8) |
| Sections 13 and 14 (13: Dust and
Particulate Control, 14: Sound Control Procedures - 581 KB, about
3.5 minutes to download at 28.8) |
| Section 15 (Letters of Reference - 252 KB,
about 1.5 minutes to download at 28.8) |
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| Download the drawings in Powerpoint format. If
Powerpoint is not installed on your computer, download
a free Powerpoint viewer from Microsoft. The viewer can be used to
read and print but not edit or create Powerpoint files.
| Sections 7 (Plat Map - 633 KB, about 3.8
minutes to download at 28.8) |
| Section 9 (Site Plan - 586 KB, about 3.5
minutes to download at 28.8) |
| Section 10 (Building Elevations - 565 KB,
about 3.3 minutes to download at 28.8) |
| Section 11 (Site Survey) is being converted and will be posted soon.
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| Status
| The Transit Mix proposal was reviewed at
a Palmer Lake Planning Commission Workshop on March 14, 2001. The
Workshop was attended by about 80 people many of whom spoke against the
proposal. |
| The proposal was scheduled for a formal
hearing at the Planning Commission Meeting March 21, 2001. More than 100
people attended the meeting. Reportedly due to the public opposition,
Transit Mix asked for a continuance so the formal hearing on the matter
was postponed. |
| Transit Mix has now proposed building the plant on a different
parcel in Palmer Lake on the other side of County Line Rd. The 4.7 parcel
now being considered belongs to the Town and would be purchased by Transit
Mix for $300,000. View Town Land in the area
being considered.
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| On August 9, 2001, the Palmer Lake Town Council voted 5-1 to remove heavy
manufacturing as a conditional use in the M-1 (industrial) zone. Any
future applications for a concrete batch plant would not comply with the
zoning within the Town of Palmer Lake. This change to the zoning
ordinance does not apply to the Transit Mix application.
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| August 15, 2001: After listening to the concerns of numerous
residents, the Palmer Lake Planning Commission voted unanimously to
recommend denial of the proposed Transit Mix
concrete batch plant. By letter, Transit Mix had requested another
continuance of the Planning Commission hearing. That request for
continuance was unanimously denied. Representatives of Transit Mix did
not attend the hearing. |
| The next step, should Transit Mix wish to pursue their proposal, is
the scheduled Town Council workshop September
6th. |
| August 20, 2001: It was learned that Transit Mix has withdrawn its
application to build a concrete batch plant in Palmer Lake. |
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| Issues
| Traffic
| Although no traffic study has yet been submitted, at
the Planning Commission Workshop March 14th, Transit Mix estimated
that the proposed plant would have a maximum capacity of 80 to 90
cubic yards of concrete per hour. |
| Transit Mix also said their trucks
carry an average of about 7.5 cubic yards of concrete. That would
produce a maximum of 10 to 12 trucks per hour departing the plant.
Each truck would return to the plant for cleanout and reloading.
That would be total maximum of 20 to 24 concrete truck trips per
hour. Note that a vehicle trip is counted each time a line on the
road is crossed by a vehicle traveling in either direction. |
| There would be roughly as many trucks
bringing raw materials to the plant. That would add a maximum of
another 20 or so truck trips per hour. |
| Assuming a 10 hour day, the total
truck trips per day could easily top 400 when the plant is operating
at maximum capacity. |
| The two proposed plants would significantly add to the existing
traffic on County Line Rd. and Highway 105. The additional traffic would be mostly large,
heavy, slow moving trucks. |
| Transit Mix is not
currently proposing adding
acceleration and deceleration lanes to ease traffic flow in the
area. |
| Depending on the site, there may be sight distance issues. 595' sight distance
is required to pull
multi-unit trucks onto a 35 mph State Highway. In the event that
Highway 105 is widened to two lanes in each direction, the sight distance
requirement would increase from 595' to 700'.
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| Road Damage
| The Colorado Department of
Transportation (CDOT) estimates that a
fully loaded ready-mix concrete truck does as
much damage to the roads as 9,600 cars. |
| Highway 105 and County Line Road are
truck-rated. Others roads in the Town limit truck weight to 10,000 pounds. |
| To repave one mile of two lane
asphalt road is estimated at about $158,000. |
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| Water Usage
| It takes a lot of water to make concrete. Figures range from 45 to
75 gallons per cubic yard. Additional water is used to clean the
trucks when they return from job sites. Ready-mix trucks can carry
up to 10 cubic yards of concrete and an additional 150 gallons of
water. That is a maximum of 600 to 900 gallons of
water per load. |
| With a maximum plant capacity of 80 to 90 cubic yards per hour and
assuming a 10 hour day, the maximum amount of water used per day
would be 36,000 gallons (800 cy. per day * 45 gallons per cy.) to
67,500 gallons (900 cy. per day * 75 gallons per cy.). That works
out to 60 to 113 gallons per minute or 720,000 to 1.35 million
gallons per 20 day month. |
| Most of
this water usage would be concentrated in the summer months just when
residential usage peaks. Water shortages and rationing are
likely. |
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| Pollution
| Transit Mix has a history of polluting nearby areas. They were
fined for repeatedly polluting Shook's Run in Colorado Springs which
flows into Fountain Creek. |
| The lake, natural springs, and wetlands and animal habitat are
near the proposed plant site. Pollution from the concrete plants
could potential damage these areas. |
| There would also be noise pollution from backup beepers and heavy
equipment, light pollution from the security lamps, and the
potential of air pollution due to wind-borne Portland cement powder
and dust from the piles of aggregate waiting to be used to make
concrete. |
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| Health Risk
| Portland cement is a known carcinogen and poses a variety of other
serious health risks. For information, read the Material
Safety Data Sheet. |
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| Taxes
| Since Colorado sales taxes are paid to the jurisdiction at the
point of concrete delivery (e.g., Douglas County), Palmer Lake is
already getting sales taxes for all concrete delivered within the
Town. They would never get any part of the sales tax for deliveries
outside the Town. |
| The only increased taxes would be property taxes based on
improvements made to the property. In short, increased Palmer Lake infrastructure costs would far exceed taxes collected from the
plants. |
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| Employment
| The proposed Transit Mix plant would
employee about nine people: approximately seven truck drivers, a
batchman, and a loader operator. |
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| Contact
Information
| Applicant
Robert S. Brewster
Vice President
Transit Mix Concrete
444 East Costilla
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
475-0700 FAX 475-0226 |
| Property Owner
Bradford K. Neal
Davidson County, TN |
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