The Summit County Council delayed a decision on Spoil to Soil’s future Sept. 24 after deliberating in a closed session.
The 3-2 decision to wait allows the Browns Canyon composting facility to keep its permits while it addresses problems identified by county staff and code enforcement officers.
“I think we didn't really disagree. I think it was just a matter of just ensuring that that due process was really clear,” Councilmember Megan McKenna, who voted for pausing the appeal, said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Sept. 25. “I think we were all in agreement that the violations were concerning and that we want to make sure that those are addressed.”
According to Spoil to Soil operator Kylee Mimbach, the facility was accepting food waste and composting as of Sept. 25.
The council will reconsider the alleged permit violations on Oct. 15, and according to Councilmember Chris Robinson, will set a timeframe for the facility to fix any problems.
Jared Clayton, the property owner’s husband, told councilmembers Sept. 24 that, as of the council meeting, site operations were limited.
“We actually do have a nightly rental. I know that on the report [county staff] said we don't have a nightly rental license. We do,” Clayton said. “We're doing nightly rentals. We're doing some improvements to the property, things of that nature, landscaping, that kind of stuff.”
The council decision puts the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission’s August decision to pull permits on hold.
County staff have documented a host of activities they say are either unpermitted or violate the permits the facility does have.
The landowner’s attorney Kyle Reeder said county planning staff didn’t provide notice of specific violations, only a 30-day notice that a revocation hearing was scheduled.
“This was just, ‘Hey, there's potential violations. We're working on a staff report. We'll send it to you when we get it done.’ It was never sent,” Reeder told the county council. “The only first time we saw the staff report was the Tuesday before the hearing.”
County civil attorney Helen Strachan contended the landowner was confusing different county code enforcement processes.
When it comes to pulling permits, she said the county need only give “reasonable notice of the proceeding to revoke” to the applicant.
The Claytons, despite owning the land, never applied for the composting facility’s permits. The father-daughter duo who operated Spoil to Soil on it, the Mimbachs, did.
As McKenna indicated, the council wants to make double sure the appropriate parties are given due process.
“Notice of violations, warnings and all of that — they're typically done for something minor. Here you have a site where most of the conditions of approval have not been adhered to, some of them egregiously. So at that point, the county can’t look the other way,” Amir Caus, the planner who presented the county’s investigation, told the council. “So we do understand when you take away somebody's livelihood, we take that very seriously. And in my 18 years here with the county that's been done less than a handful of times.”
The violations Caus presented included accepting incorrect materials such as snow, plastic and metal; processing soils; operating after hours; laying out the site incorrectly; and failing to submit other miscellaneous paperwork.
Jared Clayton has disputed some of the allegations and told the county council what he told the planning commission: that they need time to research and respond to the concerns.
He estimated that Spoil to Soil has composted and diverted 75,000 tons of material from the Summit County landfill at Three Mile Canyon.
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