Transit Mix is rolling out political endorsements and promises to the community to get state approval for a quarry for road materials in southeastern El Paso County. The company is touting is political support as it reapplies for a permit, after losing out against activists and the project’s nearby residents last year.

Last year the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board denied the company a permit to put the operation on private property on Hitch Rack Ranch on a 3-2 vote. One board member absent and another was recused from voting. Nearby residents made a case. More than 120 people submitted objections to the project saying it would affect traffic, water quality, wildlife and more, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported last year.

The 1,200-acre privately owned Hitch Rack Ranch is adjacent to the Nature Conservancy of Colorado’s Aiken Canyon, which the organization says is a critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl, a threatened species. An opposition group is encouraging members on Facebook to write to the state board to oppose the project again.

If the state will permit this quarry, Transit Mix promises to sweeten the deal elsewhere in El Paso County:

“The early closing of quarries and facilities, with their conversion to public uses and other, more compatible economic uses, will greatly benefit the citizens of Colorado Springs and El Paso County,” City Councilman Andy Pico said in a statement.

Besides Pico, the company said the deal has the support of council president pro tem Jill Gaebler and members Tom Strand, Merv Bennett, Don Knight and David Geislinger.

“Transit Mix batch plants are no longer a good fit for our downtown or North Nevada, which are among our most dense and growing neighborhoods,” Gaebler said in a statement. “This plan will create new possibilities for these areas and the Pikeview area, where our view corridor and recreational opportunities will be significantly enhanced.”

Added Bennett, “Hitch Rack Ranch is the single best location for a new quarry in El Paso County. There are 1,500 residences within one mile of Pikeview quarry, compared to only 13 residences within one mile of Hitch Rack Ranch. Because Hitch Rack Ranch is 1,432 acres and Transit Mix is proposing to mine fewer than 200 acres, there would be a significant buffer between the quarry and those few neighbors. As far as quarries go, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Five local Republican legislators also have endorsed the project – Sen. Kent Lambert and Reps Dan Nordberg, Dave Williams, Larry Liston and Paul Lundeen.

“Infrastructure is already strained in Colorado,” Nordberg said in a statement. “Inflating the cost of road work is the last thing we should be doing. Transit Mix provides approximately 40 percent of the concrete and 25 percent of the aggregate in Colorado Springs. Without a quarry at Hitch Rack Ranch, Transit Mix would be forced to haul aggregate from outside the county, which would increase the cost of concrete and aggregate alike. A Transit Mix quarry at Hitch Rack Ranch will serve the taxpayer by keeping costs as low as possible.”

Said  Lundeen, “The state of Colorado reserved mineral rights on Hitch Rack Ranch back in 1909. Because of those mineral rights, Transit Mix will pay the State School Fund approximately 50-cents per ton of aggregate quarried. Over the quarry’s 30-year life, royalty payments will total more than $20 million. Even without the state’s mineral rights, a quarry at Hitch Rack Ranch would come with sweet benefits, such as the early reclamation of the Pikeview Quarry; but $20 million for schools is pretty sweet icing on that cake.”