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Opinion
Why do we insist on compromising some of our finest remaining natural amenities? If there is ever a project that further develops Eagle County's “strip city” and gobbles up critical open space it is the Eagle River Station.
If ever there is a project that severely compromises a beautiful stetch of the Eagle River it is the Eagle River Station.
Some members of the Eagle Town Board are asking the citizens to approve the Eagle River Station to cover for past mistakes that were made by approving too much residential development that doesn't have the tax base necessary to support it.
Unfortunately this is a dominos game that forces continuously expanding maximum development instead of recognizing and adhering to a principle of “optimum” size. The better option is obviously to build out the in-town commercial areas instead of approving the sprawl the ERS represents.
I ask Don Rogers if he is for ERS because it represents more business for his paper in this struggling economy instead of some of the rationalizations he has offered? So far I'm not convinced.
In a Dec. 12 editorial written by the Town of Eagle Board, they say,"we..... have seen Eagle grow from a community focused on ranching and agricultural to a community focused on family and small town ideals.”
I would like to point out that the ranching families left in Eagle County have some of the most commendable small town values in the Rocky Mountains.
Eagle has in fact been a community focused on family and small town ideals since I came into the area in 1962.
What I see now is a shift from rural to urban values, and a boom-town mentality that worked for a while but now fits poorly into the present economy and the disappearing rural countryside.
The Eagle County Board reminds me of some drunken sailors jumping into an icy sea without life jackets.
One has only to look at the large subdivison failures in the lower county to understand what a mistake the ERS will be.
ERS can wait while those with a long-term commitment to Eagle have a chance to make it.
Don't mess up more of what little open space and pristine river we have left. Don't kill the inner town with outlying commercial sprawl.
Roger Brown
Gypsum
If ever there is a project that severely compromises a beautiful stetch of the Eagle River it is the Eagle River Station.
Some members of the Eagle Town Board are asking the citizens to approve the Eagle River Station to cover for past mistakes that were made by approving too much residential development that doesn't have the tax base necessary to support it.
Unfortunately this is a dominos game that forces continuously expanding maximum development instead of recognizing and adhering to a principle of “optimum” size. The better option is obviously to build out the in-town commercial areas instead of approving the sprawl the ERS represents.
I ask Don Rogers if he is for ERS because it represents more business for his paper in this struggling economy instead of some of the rationalizations he has offered? So far I'm not convinced.
In a Dec. 12 editorial written by the Town of Eagle Board, they say,"we..... have seen Eagle grow from a community focused on ranching and agricultural to a community focused on family and small town ideals.”
I would like to point out that the ranching families left in Eagle County have some of the most commendable small town values in the Rocky Mountains.
Eagle has in fact been a community focused on family and small town ideals since I came into the area in 1962.
What I see now is a shift from rural to urban values, and a boom-town mentality that worked for a while but now fits poorly into the present economy and the disappearing rural countryside.
The Eagle County Board reminds me of some drunken sailors jumping into an icy sea without life jackets.
One has only to look at the large subdivison failures in the lower county to understand what a mistake the ERS will be.
ERS can wait while those with a long-term commitment to Eagle have a chance to make it.
Don't mess up more of what little open space and pristine river we have left. Don't kill the inner town with outlying commercial sprawl.
Roger Brown
Gypsum
