Colorado City Debates Scrap Yard Location

The city of Brush, Colorado, is debating county zoning regulations as they pertain to a proposed scrap yard that is looking to be located at the entrance to the city. While the site of the proposed scrap yard is outside the city limits, because the land abuts the city various business owners and residents, as well as government officials have commented on the project.

Officials from the city are concerned that the location of a scrap yard would be an eyesore to the city. Despite the concerns, Morgan County, which has jurisdiction in the matter, allows for scrap metal, auto wrecking and salvage yards to be located in light industrial areas such as the proposed site.

The county held an initial public meeting on whether or not issue a permit to the scrap yard Jan. 13. While residents, businesses and city officials weighed in on the pros and cons of having the scrap yard relocated to the site, the County Planning Commission opted to hold a second planning commissioners meeting Feb. 10 to make recommendations on the facility.

According to Karen Schminke, assistant administrator & building official for the city of Brush, the company only recently purchased the land for the facility, with the plan of relocating from its existing location, roughly 12 miles away.

According to local press reports, the latest proposal from owners Gerald Mares of Brush and Isidro Estrada of Fort Morgan to use a 4.31-acre site for GNI is to fence off the east end using eight to 10-foot-high international packing crates.