A pristine stretch of land along Fountain Creek that is home to blue herons and bald eagles will one day become a gravel pit.

Overturning decisions by two other government entities, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners on Thursday approved an application by Lafarge, a multinational firm headquartered in France, to extract 30 million tons of sand gravel from the area during the next 15 years.

Commissioners Wayne Williams, Amy Lathen and Dennis Hisey voted to give Lafarge the permit it needs to begin mining operations after the company withdrew a companion application to build an adjoining concrete and asphalt batch plant.

The mining operation will be located on a 514-acre parcel on the east side of Interstate 25 just south of the Pikes Peak International Raceway near Exit 122.

Lafarge isn’t expected to begin work at the site immediately, said county spokesman Dave Rose. The company has a gravel pit in Fountain. Lafarge wants to close that operation and finish reclamation work there before opening another pit, he said.

Commissioners Sallie Clark and Jim Bensberg, who were present for portions of the all-day meeting, said they had to leave for personal reasons and did not vote. Clark said Friday that she felt “comfortable” with the decision by commissioners. “In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have picked that place, but sometimes we don’t have a choice.”

Rose said the decision was a  difficult one for the commissioners. “The El Paso County shield has several symbols on it, one of which is mining, and they acknowledged the important history of mining in El Paso County and noted that without the use of these materials nothing could be built. So they were pressed to balance these private property rights and they were persuaded with all the stipulations put in place that this will, in the long run, prove to be an asset in the Fountain Valley.”

Ken Salazar, former U.S. senator and now Interior Secretary, once said the Fountain Creek area could become the region’s crown jewel. With its wetlands and threatened grasslands, the area serves as a flyway and nesting area  for migrating birds and is rich in wildlife.

Ferris Frost, whose family has ranched in the area for decades and owns land next to Fountain Creek, said she was disappointed by the decision.

“I’m desperately looking for a silver lining,” she said Friday. Frost said residents did win some concessions, including an agreement by Lafarge not to mine gravel in the 100-year floodplain and to shelve its plans to build an asphalt plant.

Lafarge officials could not be reached for comment late Friday. In their presentation to commissioners Thursday, the company agreed to comply with 37 conditions, including the erection of berms to hide gravel operations from motorists on Interstate 25, the construction of slurry walls to protect groundwater, improvements to roads, and compliance with all state and federal  regulations.

The Fountain Creek Watershed, Flood Control and Greenway District, as well as the El Paso County Planning Commission, last fall rejected Lafarge’s proposal to build a batch plant and open a mining facility.

After much public debate, the two boards concluded that Lafarge’s proposal was not compatible with existing or long-range plans for the area, and could negatively affect Fountain Creek.

In documents submitted to El Paso County, Lafarge said it plans to dig out the gravel in phases, with 30 to 40 acres mined at a time. The site, owned by Sundance Investments of Castle Rock, sits between the Union Pacific railroad tracks and Fountain Creek. Mining operations will put hundreds of heavy trucks on the highway.

—Call the writer at 476-4825.

Jasmine Bruce, 10, wrote a welcoming message on one of the school’s new interactive white boards at the Howbert Elementary open house on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE