Deadline Tuesday to Fix for Public Comments on Meadowood Barn Renovations

The Bureau of Land Management Eastern States Office will not extend the deadline for the public comment period on its Environmental Assessment of the . Critics say that the Tuesday deadline should be pushed back because BLM's link to the comments was out of order for a number of days. 

"BLM-ES did have an Internet outage that was out of our control," said a BLM spokesperson. "Servers located elsewhere in the country went down causing portions of our website to go down as well. As a reminder: We encourage interested parties to submit comments to BLM-ES via U.S. mail, e-mail and fax. The email address for the coordinator for the Meadowood project is on the webpage."

You may read the entire environmental assessment report here (pdf download).

Critics of the 42-page report say the three development options outlined by BLM could shut down the horse boarding operation at the barn. Because of barn reconstruction, there is a chance that the 19 horses boarded at the barn would not remain on site, and as a result, could jeopardize cash flow for the struggling business.

"I lost another horse the other day. I'm down to 19 boarders and there are 32 horses on the waiting list," said Barn Manager Allison Mills to Patch. "We're in a holding pattern. I'm dying on the vine." 

There are more than 700 signatures on a petition that asks for the boarded horses to remain at Meadowood during the reconstruction of the barn. 

The assessment offers three main options: "The Environmental Assessment describes a proposed action to renovate the Meadowood Barn structure within its existing footprint and use, to the extent possible, existing framing and structural components. Alternative actions include immediate closure and demolition of the structure, or no action whatsoever," according to the BLM website.

Read Patch's original story about the for more information about the options available for the barn at Meadowood.

Comments by US Mail should be sent to:

Kurt Wadzinski
Planning & Environmental Coordinator
Northeastern States Field Office
626 East Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 200
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 52202-4617
E-mail: kwadzins@blm.gov