Silver City has begun the process of creating a community plan. The public meetings on the topic are held at the Silver City School House and hosted by the town board. During the first meeting, town advisory board members explained that they expected the process to take anywhere from 6 months to one year. The purpose of the planning process is to “collectively decide what can and should happen to our community: how it should grow and change; and what it should offer 10, 15, even 20 years into the future.” The hope is to create a plan that is “inclusive and reflects the comprehensive values of the entire community” and meets the needs of the community.
A number of longtime denizens of Silver City attended the first meeting this month, as well as several who are newer to the community. Corrado De Gasperis, Executive Chairman & CEO of Comstock Mining Inc. (CMI), and Zach Spencer, Director of External Relations for Comstock Mining Inc, also attended. De Gasperis, who has fought the residents of Silver City for nearly a decade over CMI’s goal of bringing open pit mining to the town, noted that Silver City is unlike any other community in Lyon County. He said, the “people here care more about the community than themselves.” He went on to admit, “I think the quality of the community has diminished in part because of me.”
Nevertheless, he persists. One of the company’s latest press releases crowed, “We look forward to advancing the community planning process with Silver City and Lyon County and advancing the exploration, development and permitting of our properties for their highest and best uses.” As we head into yet another planning process that CMI will attempt to co-opt, a recap of the last decade with our uninvited corporate guests is in order.
When De Gasperis first descended upon us, Lyon County had recently updated its county-wide plans for land use, which reaffirmed earlier decisions and plans the County had made about Silver City in the 1970s and 1980s. In short, Silver City was understood to be a residential community, one not suitable for heavy industrial operations, particularly because parts of the area includes Superfund sites where toxic materials from historical mining should not be disturbed. It was also recognized that Silver City is located within a nationally designated historic landmark (the Comstock) and that locals wish to preserve the community’s history, and do not want to see it bulldozed.
As DeGasperis has discovered over the years, my Silver City neighbors are people who are interested in preserving the history of the town, and securing a vibrant future for the community. They have the skills, talents and energy to make both possible. This is a community that gets positive things done by working together, intelligently, and strategically. I believe it was Cashion Callaway who made the astute observation some years ago that Silver City “is a community built on the values of knowing and caring for neighbors and for pitching in when need arises. We care for our kids, for our elders and for all others who can use a hand. Neighbor to neighbor, we stand by our community. Always.”
However, for nearly a decade now, the town has been under seige by Comstock Mining Inc and its wide-ranging influence over officials and groups. If the corporation succeeds, there will be a large scale open pit mine operation very close to Silver City homes. The town will be reduced to an "appendage to an industrial operation." A number of Silver City's longtime homeowners have already moved, or are planning to move, due to CMI's plans. The fact that since the 1970's Silver City residents had repeated assurances through Lyon County Master Plans and land use planning decisions that Silver City is a residential rather than a heavy industrial area matters not the least to officials who enjoy the influence of CMI (i.e., employment for friends and family, donations to political campaigns, financial gifts, donations to pet projects, etc.). Citizens of Silver City have been set upon by super-wealthy individuals behind CMI who are influencing our officials, and the town will be transformed for the worse if they succeed.
Pit mining in and adjacent to Silver City would be catastrophic for obvious reasons: destruction of parts of the historic landmark, continual noise, dust, distrubance of toxic Superfund sites, nightime light pollution, drastic reduction of home values, reduction of road safety, destruction and re-routing of existing roads, etc.
My hope is that the focus of the newest community plan in Silver City, and the 2020 plan for Lyon County, is on wealth creation rather than wealth extraction by outside interests. Wealth creation is a term that takes into account the long term impacts on the health and well-being of locals. Allowing mining and other corporate interests to influence changes in land use policies is a recipe for environmental and economic disaster for Lyon County.
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