Silver City
December 23, 2010
Joe Mortensen
Chairman
Board of County Commissioners
Lyon County, Nevada
27 South Main Street
Yerington, Nevada 89447

Dear Chairman Mortensen,

I am a resident and property owner in Silver City, Nevada and I am writing to urge the Commissioners’ approval of the Final Draft County-wide Component of the Lyon County Comprehensive Master Plan, Agenda Item 5 for today’s Lyon County Board of Commissioners Meeting. I agree wholeheartedly with the land use designations as shown on the County-Wide Land Use Map – Silver City, specifically the areas designated “Suburban” within the Silver City Town Limits. I am expressing my support for the Draft Master Plan in light of the contention by Comstock Mining, Inc. at the last Board of Commissioners Meeting that the “Suburban” designation of a portion of their property (APN 008-091-01) within the Silver City Town Limits is arbitrary and baseless. The designation is, in fact, neither arbitrary nor baseless:

1. The portion of APN 008-091-01 designated “Suburban” lies within the Silver City Town Limits. The town limits, by definition, are the boundary between residential or commercial areas and undeveloped or sparsely occupied land outside town. This distinction was made in the first Lyon County General Plan, developed in 1971, which designated the area within the Silver City Town Limits as residential (with the exception of a commercial area along Main Street, and a small general industrial area at the south end of Main Street). The current Draft Master Plan continues this designation. Both master plans were developed in consultation with the people and communities of Lyon County, and both concluded that the Silver City Town Limits and residential land use were congruent.

2. The Lyon County Board of Commissioners addressed this issue in 1986, when they upheld the Lyon County Planning and Zoning Commission decision to deny a rezoning request by Nevex Mining Inc., which would have allowed open pit mining in the Silver City Townsite on land within what is now APN 008-091-01. In his motion to deny the request, Commissioner Cummings offered a long, comprehensive list of “findings of fact” supporting the denial, for example:

The proposed rezoning violates the following expressed goals: A)To manage natural resources in a beneficial way, B)To improve neighborhood stability and increase property values by preventing incompatible and disruptive land use.

The Planning Commission recommended denial of the Nevex rezoning request by a five to two vote on June 17, 1986. The rezoning was denied by the Lyon County Board of Commissioners by a vote of four to one on August 19, 1986 (Commission’s Record Book Z, pp 145-157).

3. The growth and development of Silver City over the past 25 years has only magnified the factors originally supporting the Board of Commissioners’ reasoning that open pit mining within the Silver City Town Limits represents incompatible and disruptive land use. The parcel described by Comstock Mining, Inc. (APN 008-091-01) is larger and even more intrusive than the 20 acre 1986 Nevex project it encompasses. Both APN 008-091-01 and the proposed Nevex pit occupy a prominent slope overlooking the southern part of Silver City. They are within view, and easy earshot, of almost every house and residential lot in Silver City. APN 008-091-01 extends northeast across State Route 342, and is contiguous with at least four existing residences and a number of residential lots. At its northern extent, the parcel is contiguous with at least one residence, and reaches into the southern core of Silver City, along an area of Main Street designated Commercial Mixed Use in the Draft Master Plan.

This is about values. One way of quantifying value is by the ounce, in the case of gold currently around $1400 dollars. Other values are more complicated, although they can also be measured in dollars and cents. People buy houses; they have them built; they build them themselves. They improve their houses over the years and, as circumstances dictate, they sell them. But they also build homes, and out of homes they make communities. These things have value—the kind of values which, I would argue, are the foundation for the Draft Master Plan. When Rob Loveberg and the Planning Department staff came to us at the beginning of this process they asked us—they did not tell us—what we wanted for our community and its future. They asked us what we valued most about our town, and we told them, and we worked with them through endless meetings, drafts, and more drafts—and together we produced the Draft Master Plan which is before you today. It is not unreasonable to point out that $1400 an ounce gold affects the way people see the world. It can make thoughtful, common sense planning seem illogical. I submit to you that not a single line on the Draft Silver City Land Use Map is arbitrary or baseless, and if our experience is any guide, there are none on any other Master Plan maps either.

I strongly urge you to give the Final Draft County-wide Component of the Lyon County Comprehensive Master Plan your vote of approval.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Erich Obermayr
Silver City Nevada

Link to Master Plan

Silver City Land Use Map

Parcel APN 008-091-01

The motion below passed unanimously by voice vote at the Feb 1, 2011, meeting of the Silver City, Nevada Citizen Advisory Council by Silver City residents in attendance, and was subsequently presented to Lyon County Board of Commissioners:

Whereas:

The following situation presently exists in Silver City, Nevada:

For the past weeks Comstock Mining, Inc. has conducted core drilling operations within and immediately adjacent Silver City, Lyon County, Nevada. Drilling operations and associated road construction, pad clearing, and maintenance and support operations produce noise, dust, and traffic which completely disrupt the peace and quiet which are fundamental elements of our town. The noise from the heavy equipment is a constant, pulsing low-level roar punctuated by bursts of acceleration and backup horns. This all can be heard indoors and out, at almost every residence in town. This begins at 6 a.m. on weekdays, at 8 a.m. on weekends, and lasts until 6 p.m. Maintenance and bulldozing often begin earlier, and continue until after the drill rigs have shut down. The noise and activity are having an immediate and damaging effect on the quality of life in Silver City, and has the potential for serious negative impacts to property values.

We, the citizens of Silver City, respectfully move that the Lyon County Board of Commissioners address the following questions:

Why is an industrial-scale drilling operation allowed to take place within the Silver City townsite, an area designated in the Lyon County Master Plan as Suburban, and zoned for residential use?

Why is this activity, which clearly is the first step in a major mining project, allowed in an area in which such an activity is inappropriate?

Why are unrestricted earth moving and landscape alteration activities being allowed within the Comstock National Historic District?

Why are earth moving and landscape alteration being allowed without taking into account the potentially harmful effects on the surrounding area—effects such as drainage richand erosion problems, damage to the watershed, and disturbance of chemically contaminated mill tailings?