First and foremost, a good comment letter is honest and respectful of the recipient.

You're most likely feeling strongly about this project, possibly even very angry. Try to keep in mind that the people we're writing to aren't the "bad guys", they're our County staff and they're trying their best to handle this very important issue with professionalism and care.

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One comment per household? NO! Everyone at the address that has concerns about this project is encouraged to comment. The volume of comments is the way we let the County know how serious we are and how important this is to all of us.

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With that important preamble, let's look at what makes an effective comment!

1. Be specific - "traffic is going to be terrible" isn't as compelling as "The backup of rock trucks with trailers trying to turn North from SR14 in the morning is going to backup in to traffic which will effectively stop traffic on SR14."
    

2. Safety - this is our main concern, above everything else, this is the aspect of the project that is most worrisome; It's a plain and simple fact that a consistent increase in heavily loaded haul trucks WILL result an increase of accidents on our neighborhood roads. Share specific safety concerns local to your home or route, annecdotes about neighbors who ride horses, dogs that wander, kids that ride bikes or couples out walking for exercise - ALL will be affected by this project, some possibly tragically.
    

3. Your Details - be sure to include your full name and address in your comment, doesn't hurt to include a phone number as well.

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You should of course include other topics that concern you, other consequences of this project that you're worried about. Everything in the comment letter will be read by the county, just know that safety and environmental concerns will carry more weight than "wildlife will become scarce" or "I'll be stuck behind slow trucks all the time"types concerns.

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Examples of Topics We Hear from the Community
 

• Safety:

  • Children walking to bus stops and pets that wander onto the road will now need to contend with massive, rock laden dump trucks driving through the neighborhood

  • Trucks approaching the crosswalk at the bottom of the steep grade on Salmon Falls Rd. pose serious danger to pedestrians

  • Traffic impact, truck breakdowns and poor weather. As you know Mabee Mines can be treacherous with snow and ice, sometimes SR14 can be fine when Mabee Mines is very different. How often will we have trucks sliding off the road or spinning their tires unable to make the grade?

  • Numerous private roads and driveways along Mabee Mines Rd, many with short sight distances

• Water Quality/Source Impacts - will the blasting negatively affect the natural water system we all rely on? Will wells dry up, will the biological or mineral composition of the water change for the worse?

• Noise - About a truck a minute, can you imagine?

• Quality of life will be negatively impacted by constant heavy dump truck traffic all day

• Disruption to wildlife. Many deer and elk move through our rural community and that will change with hundreds of daily dump trucks​

• Greatly reduced property values for decades - you must disclose the mine if you plan to sell your property. And what happens when property value goes down? County property tax revenue is equally reduced. All this for a quarry that does NOT benefit the county in any way. It's all negative with no upside, none and if you believe otherwise please contact us to discuss.