On Wednesday, Boulder County announced that it had served Cemex, Inc. — a cement plant near Lyons — with a notice to terminate. The letter cited increased traffic as the reason.
Cemex has operated near Lyons since 1965. At the time, the company operated within the land-use code. In 1994, the county changed the land-use code to an agricultural district. Since the plant has operated longer than the code, it was allowed to continue.
Boulder County received complaints from residents in the area that there had been an increase in traffic from the plant. CDOT also received similar complaints, according to Dale Case, community planning and permitting director for Boulder County. CDOT mandated that Cemex conduct a traffic study.
“When that report came back … what we found was a very large increase of traffic going out of the site of truck trips,” Case said.
According to the study, the truck trips going out of the site increased from 600 to 1,200 trips. The county became concerned with the intensity of trips and the impacts from those trips including an increase of traffic accidents, an increase of infrastructure at CDOT to accommodate the increase and the potential for environmental impacts, Case said.
When a business changes how it operates outside the established code, it needs to go through a review process with the county, according to Case. Cemex did not engage in this process before increasing the number of trips in and out of its facility.
Cemex has three options to remedy this situation. It can show that there was an error in the findings, reduce its truck trips back to the levels it was previously zoned to operate under or it can appeal to the Boulder County Commissioners. If none of these are satisfied, Cemex could potentially close.
“Cemex is reviewing the notice issued by Boulder County’s Director of Community Planning & Permitting regarding the land use status of our Lyons Cement Plant and will respond within the next 30 days. Cemex will continue to operate the plant under current operating conditions, producing high-quality cement without disruption to our hard-working employees or our valued customers," said Maryssa Silva, external communications manager for Cemex.
