Thursday, February 19, 2009
March 2 - Public Hearing on Community Biomass Sort Yard Sites (Nederland Area)
Contact: Ryan Ludlow, Forestry Education and Outreach Coordinator, Land Use Department at 720-564-2641 or Barb Halpin, Public Information Officer, 303-441-1622
Boulder County Commissioners to consider sites for a
Community Biomass Sort Yard near the Town of Nederland
March 2- Commissioners will take public comments on two potentials locations for the sort yard
(Boulder County, Colo.) – On March 2 at 5 p.m., The Boulder County Commissioners will hold a public hearing to determine a potential location for a community biomass sort yard (CBSY) in the Nederland area. The public is invited to attend and provide input on two proposed sites, both located on parcels owned by Boulder County.
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE COMMUNITY BIOMASS SORT YARD SITES – NEDERLAND AREA.
WHEN: 5 p.m., Monday, March 2
WHERE: Hearing Room of the Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder
WHAT: The Commissioners will be considering:
· The establishment of a seasonal community biomass sort yard (CBSY) near the town of Nederland to be used by Boulder County residents to drop off wood and slash collected from their private lands;
· Two potential site locations for the CBSY:
o Reynolds Ranch Open Space – located off of Magnolia Road, three miles east of the Peak-to-Peak Highway.
o Ridge Road – located on county-owned property adjacent to the Boulder Valley School District’s bus barn, one mile northeast of the Town of Nederland.
· Site-specific information presented by county staff from the Commissioners’ Office, Land Use, and Parks and Open Space, as well as summaries of the outcomes of previous community meetings on establishing a CBSY in Nederland;
· Giving staff direction on a preference for pursuing one of the two proposed site locations. (Note: Any site would need to go through a public land use process to determine site suitability for a CBSY before it could officially be approved).
The public hearing can also be viewed "live" online during the meeting. Members of the public who are not able to attend the hearing in person may submit comments via e-mail.
While the commissioners are expected to determine a preference for one site or the other on March 2, this hearing will not be the final public meeting to discuss the use of the site. Additional public meetings will be held to determine the land use requirements for any site that is selected by the Board of County Commissioners for further consideration.
A memo detailing the process for the March 2 meeting is available. For more information or to sign up for the County’s Forest Health listserv, please visit www.bouldercounty.org/foresthealth.
Background:
Boulder County has a coordinated program to promote forest stewardship and sustainability through both work on our open space lands and though outreach and education with private landowners. The county has begun several forest health project on county-owned lands and is working closely with our other public land owners to deal with the effects of the beetle epidemic. In addition, the Forest Health Program provides ecological and environmental information to landowners about sound forest management practices on private lands, and provides assistance for private property owners to remove material from their property for disposal through a community biomass sort yard (CBSY).
Having CBSYs allows for this material to be sorted into various types – infested material that needs treatment and, depending on the size and condition of the logs, material that has economic value and may be used for post and poles, dimensional lumber, wood chips, animal bedding or mulch. Material that has no economic value can be disposed of appropriately.
An ideal parcel for the CBSY would be approximately five acres in size, although could as small as three acres, be relatively flat and have access adequate for a semi truck to haul an Air Curtain Burner onto and off of the site. In addition, the site should have access adequate to handle traffic from private property owners dropping off material.
Boulder County has invested in an Air Curtain Burner which can effectively deal with infested material and material which has no market value. The ACB is an efficient and safe machine that can be loaded with wood, slash, needles, chips or other wood waste for burning. A high velocity curtain of air is blown across and into a combustion chamber which over oxygenates the fire creating a high degree of combustion. This entraps particulates and smoke, limiting the amount of emissions. In addition to producing lower smoke emissions compared to pile burning, the ACB can burn a greater variety of material, operate with fewer weather restrictions, and the fire within the box can easily be contained and extinguished quickly if necessary.
In 2008, Boulder County and several partners received a grant to establish a CBSY. As a result of this funding and funding provided by Boulder County as part Forest Health Initiative, Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department opened a facility in Larimer County just north of Meeker Park in July 2008. The Meeker Park site operated for 52 days beginning at the end of July and processed approximately 848 tons of material.
-END-
Reference: maps of the two proposed site locations plus other sites that were considered previously.
Barbara HalpinBoulder County Public Information Officer
BHALPIN@bouldercounty.org
303-441-1622
Related Articles:
No Related Content Found
