Summit County gives Spoil to Soil until April 15 to remove trash

Summit County Council told Spoil to Soil, the Browns Canyon recycling and composting business owned by Jared and Kristen Clayton, that it has until April 15 to remove unauthorized trash and other non-green material from its property or the county could move to shut the business down. The council communicated the deadline at a March 3, 2026 meeting, giving the Claytons fewer than 50 days to comply.

County staff revoked Spoil to Soil’s conditional use permit last year after compiling and submitting a 55-page report to the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission that detailed “dozens of alleged violations.” The Claytons appealed that revocation to the Summit County Council in September; councilors then offered the company a six-month window to address the violations and apply for an amended permit.

At the March 3 council meeting county staff told councilors they had not received an amended-permit application from Spoil to Soil, and staff estimated that processing an amended permit would likely take more than six weeks. That timeline means a late application would not resolve the county’s April 15 enforcement deadline within the county’s stated processing window.

Spoil to Soil filed a lawsuit in November in Summit County’s Third District Court challenging the County Council’s suspension of the conditional use permit. Robinson, a county representative, said staff had waited to act until proper notice had been given and there was “a course of conduct that led us to take the decision and the steps we did.” Robinson also said he was uncomfortable discussing an issue actively working its way through the courts and that if county staff and Spoil to Soil are able to work together, he would expect the company to drop the complaint.

The enforcement priority identified by county staff centers on removing “unauthorized trash and other non-green material” from the Browns Canyon site. County officials told councilors the April 15 deadline is the point at which they could begin steps to shut the operation entirely if the materials remain on site.

The county’s action follows the 55-page staff report and the September appeal, framing the April 15 deadline as a test of whether the Claytons will remediate the site and pursue an amended permit or proceed with litigation in the Third District Court. If the property is not cleaned by April 15, Summit County could move to shut Spoil to Soil and enforce the permit revocation.