An owner of the Independent Log Company gave a tour Saturday morning to 15 citizens concerned about the company’s proposed project in Cortez. Tony Moore took participants around the 10-acre site near the west end of the Carpenter Natural Area. He and Mary Lancaster hope to saw logs on the property to make them into log homes. They had applied for a change in the site’s zoning from its current designation, which is commercial, to industrial, but that was turned down by the City Council in September of 2023. One of the main concerns over the project has been possible noise. Other concerns were dust and the nearness of the operation to people’s homes. On Saturday, Moore had the portable band mill he will use saw some logs so the sound could be checked with phone apps and his own measuring device. Readings showed the band mill didn’t produce noise that exceeded state regulations at the property’s boundaries. Moore said a backhoe or a skid steer will be used to unload logs and their back-up beeping will be shut off. Chainsaws and a firewood processor will also be used but Moore said they won’t exceed the noise limits either. Independent Log is now seeking a conditional use permit and is reportedly scheduled to appear before the city Planning and Zoning Commission on April 1.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.