Lafarge, a multinational company that wants to open sand and gravel pits and an asphalt plant  in southern El Paso County  along side Fountain Creek , hit a snag on Tuesday when the El Paso County Planning Commission overwhelmingly voted against the project.

Numerous officials and residents who lived in the area spoke out against the project, saying it would lower their property values, endanger wildlife, damage existing roadways, create excessive air pollution and cause toxic chemicals to be dumped into  Fountain Creek.

The next step is a hearing before the El Paso County Board of Commissioners, which  is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 12.

Ferris Frost, whose family has ranched in the area for decades, said she was surprised and pleased by the decision. The area surrounding Fountain Creek is a haven for all kinds of wildlife, including blue heron and beaver, she said.  “This is the last remaining portion of the creek that supports wildlife.”

Another  area rancher, Ann Hanna, whose husband was involved in the preservation of open space between Denver and Colorado Springs, said Lafarge officials took her on a tour of one of its other plants. “I was so overwhelmed and sickened that I asked to be taken home. It was the worst rape and pillage of land that I have ever seen.”

The area where Lafarge wants to locate its operations is a 745-acre strip of land that is bordered by Fountain Creek on the east and Interstate 25 on the west. The mining pits would cover 377 acres. The plant would run 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the next 15 years, and put another 400 trucks on the road.

Lafarge tried to put its project in the best light on Tuesday, showing a poster-sized photo of the pristine “lakes and rangeland” it would leave behind after its mining operations were concluded in the next 15 years or so.

But after one expert warned members of the El Paso County Planning Commission that water storage issues were extremely complex and the company might not be able to fill their excavated pits with water, planning commissioner Ed Bracken groused that the images were misleading. “You shouldn’t be showing lakes. You should be showing two empty holes,” he told company officials.

Environmental scientist Roberta Ringstrom told commissioners that Lafarge was the subject of lawsuits in several states. But company officials said they had sophisticated technology that could keep any pollutants from going off site.

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