JANUARY 30, 2025|
Photo – Quality Landscape in Saratoga – Courtesy Google Maps
The Carbon County District Court has rejected a Saratoga landscaper’s bond revocation appeal in a case stretching back a decade or more.
Quality Landscape and Nursery owner Randy Stevens has been fighting both the town of Saratoga and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality for 15 years due to mining activity on his property. Stevens was accused of continuing to remove soil from the southern edge of his land, located on the corner of Maple Avenue and South River Street in Saratoga. The town alleged that by doing so, Stevens was undermining a town-owned alleyway located directly above his mining operations. In June of 2023, the Department of Environmental Quality brought Stevens before the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council to ask for his $66,000 bond to be forfeited due to the landowner’s continued mining activities.
Stevens appealed the decision in Carbon County District Court, arguing that the Environmental Quality Council failed to consider his previous attempts to rectify the situation and DEQ’s repeated failure to act on his previous violations.
District Judge Dawnessa Snyder affirmed the Environmental Quality Council’s decision to revoke Stevens’ $66,000 bond earlier this month.
In 2010, Stevens, doing business as Quality Landscape and Nursery, was granted a Limiting Mining Operation permit with a $1,000 reclamation bond from the Department of Environmental Quality to remove rocks and soil from his property. The bond money would be set aside and used to return the site to its original condition after mining operations ended.
DEQ performed regular annual inspections on the site until, in June of 2018, the state agency noted that Stevens appeared to be mining around a retaining wall on the southern edge of his property.
The retaining wall was installed as a compromise between Stevens and the town of Saratoga, with the town allowing Stevens to mine up to the wall, but not under or around it.
A Wyoming State Mine inspector raised concerns about the retaining wall the following month. In January of 2019, the State Mine Inspections Office found that Stevens had mined outside of his permitted area.
Since the Town of Saratoga and Stevens lacked a clear agreement regarding the issue, DEQ took no action.
Several months later, the Saratoga town council informed DEQ that Stevens did not have authority to mine past the retaining wall, which prompted another site visit from the State Mine Inspections Office. This time, Stevens was found to be in violation of his agreement with both the town and DEQ.
In June of 2019, DEQ found that no mineable materials remained on the site and ordered Stevens to begin the reclamation process. That September, DEQ issued a Notice of Violation on the Quality Landscape and Nursery owner for two violations, mining outside of his permitted area and failing to stockpile topsoil needed to return the site to its original condition.
In 2020, DEQ demanded an additional $65,000 bond from Stevens to pay for reclamation efforts on the site, which the property owner paid. Stevens was then given two years to submit a plan approved by the governing body of Saratoga to develop the site or he would be forced to begin reclamation efforts. The deadline passed, and Quality Landscape and Nursery did not submit an approved site plan to DEQ.
The Department of Environmental Quality then granted Stevens another 45 days to provide a Saratoga-approved site plan or begin reclamation efforts on his property. Again, the deadline passed without Stevens submitting a plan to DEQ.
Stevens was given another 45-day an extension later in the year, but once again failed to submit a site plan to DEQ. This prompted the state agency to begin bond revocation proceedings against Quality Landscape and Nursery.
The case was heard by the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council in July of 2023. The Council found Stevens to be in violation of DEQ’s demands and ordered his $66,000 bond to be forfeited to the state agency and used for immediate reclamation efforts.
Last February, Stevens filed a Petition for Judicial Review of Agency Action in Carbon County District Court, arguing that Environmental Quality Council was mistaken in its conclusions that he violated his agreement with DEQ.
Additionally, Stevens states that revoking his bond for mining outside of his permitted area is “not supported by substantial evidence, ignores evidence in the record, constitutes an error of law, and is arbitrary and capricious.”
Finally, Stevens argued that his failure to stockpile topsoil for future reclamation efforts does not warrant a bond forfeiture.
In her decision, Judge Synder writes that Quality Landscape and Nursery did, in fact, violate its agreement with DEQ and upheld the Environmental Quality Council’s decision to revoke the bond.
