News
Follow the money
As I remember, the residents of the town of Eagle voted down Eagle River Station in January 2010. How is it that the Town Board has essentially approved ERS and the final vote is Feb. 14?
Call me ignorant, but I thought this issue was off the table. I decided to do some research to find out who composes the Eagle Town Board of Trustees and why they insist on steamrolling ERS. The following connections I found to be noteworthy:
Mayor Ed Woodland: An attorney who specializes in construction litigation, commercial litigation, estate planning and probate.
Scott Turnipseed: His company Scott S. Turnipseed AIA specializes in custom residential construction and custom residential architecture. Not to mention architecture consulting and commercial development. It seems obvious as to why commercial and residential development would be in his best interest. Perhaps his company would stand to make a substantial amount of money?
Scot Webster is a real estate agent for Slifer Smith & Frampton. Houses built mean houses to buy and sell. Need I say more?
Tom Boni, Eagle town planner, is a big proponent of Eagle River Station and in an excerpt from an article in the Eagle Valley Enterprise, Boni states that at “full build-out of both phases of development, the town estimates ERS would bring in excess of 1,700 jobs and 1,200 employees. ERS consultant planner Tom Braun said the developer believes about 500 employees will be needed for the first phase of the project.”
As many people before me have stated, these jobs are temporary! They will drive the economy temporarily. Once the building is complete, we will have empty store buildings and empty houses, and those of us who love Eagle will be left to feel the ramifications of foreclosures and negligible property values.
Construction jobs have been driving this valley since the '90s. It's time for our esteemed Town Board to find a solution to create jobs that aren't related to construction and real estate. Maybe try to attract a company like Hewlett-Packard. But when half of your Town Board has something to gain from development, it doesn't bode well for land preservation.
Eagle River Station and Haymeadow won't die until there are new members of the Town Board and the Planning and Zoning Commission (who are appointed by the Town Board of Trustees).
Several of the members of the Eagle Town Board are up for re-election in April. Make a statement and vote against them, or better yet, run against them! Save our valley, and make your voice heard!
Erin Mundo
Eagle
Watch out
All women in the United States should pay very careful attention to events swirling around the Susan G. Komen Foundation's recent decision (allegedly related to pressure from anti-abortion activists) to stop funding Planned Parenthood's breast cancer screening programs, which later was reversed. This decision represents only the tip of the iceberg, and in the long run, nothing less than losing the right to control one's own fertility is at stake.
I think this stands as a warning to all women of the likely outcome should a pro-life man (any one of the current contenders, for example) be elected to the White House but also the collective power of a citizenry enraged by a bad decision on the part of Komen.
Assessing the field of Republican presidential candidates by background, word and deed, it is apparent that the religious right wing of the Republican party has gained the upper hand and has offered up a posse of potential candidates sworn to uphold too often misguided and very out-of-date religious dogma solely designed by men to keep women in what they believe is their proper place: bearing and caring for children, keeping house and always bowing to the wishes of men. Why so many seemingly intelligent women in this day and age continue to put up with this harsh reality is beyond me.
Whoever is elected president this coming November will likely have the opportunity to appoint at least two new judges to the Supreme Court during their term in office.
With all of the Republican candidates for president declaring themselves to be right-to-lifers, should any one of them be elected president they would be pressured by their constituents to appoint anti-abortion judges to the bench, eventually resulting in the sharp curtailment of the existing reproductive rights of women. Reference is made to Roe vs. Wade.
It may be “the economy, stupid,” but in my opinion, “it” should not be at the expense of every woman losing the right to be able to decide for herself the most intimate and very personal question of if and when to bear children.
Peter Bergh
Edwards
ERS not worth troubles it will bring
Please hear me, Eagle-area people. I feel as though we're trying to push a two-legged elephant up a hill, but this is no time to quit. Nor is it time for people to throw up their hands and say nothing about the future of our town.
In the next two or three months, Eagle will either continue to be the town we recognize or turn the corner toward urban anonymity. Maybe that sounds a bit overstated, but then take a look at what is steamrolling into our future while no one seems to be looking.
I know there are people who would welcome more shopping in Eagle. I just wonder if they understand or consider what is attached to the Eagle River Station big-box experience, and is it worth the price tag?
Try to visualize a retainer wall 30 feet from I-70. It will attempt to soften the effect of four-story buildings where we now see hayfields, but travelers from the east will just see Fort Eagle as their first impression of our town.
So who cares what travelers think of us? We should. Do they want to get off the interstate and come to the heart of Eagle (Broadway), or do they just go to Applebee's and leave. But wait. Applebee's is an assumption, as is the rest of the commercial components of this touted revenue savior. We haven't a clue what stores would be out there and neither do the developers. Target was a rumor last time around, and this time, it isn't even on the table.
They simply want big-box retail (to be determined after approval) and never mind who that might be. They are actually now mentioning more pricey, upscale retail that bears no relevance to our mountain town.
And they have brought 550 residential rental units into the mix. The developer has tried to convince our Town Board those units will have no significant affect on our schools, post office or traffic, as there would be a magic ramp to I-70. However, that interchange will only be functional just prior to retail stores opening their doors, so how do the projected 760 construction workers get to work on any given work day? You've guessed it — Chambers and Highway 6. This is such an affront to the residents of the Eagle area, who, by the way, have no assurance they will be among those workers. The town's response is “with growth comes growing pains.”
And then here comes steamroller No. 2. Haymeadow is patiently biding its time on this town's busy agenda. Theirs is a proposal for around 1,000 new residences on Brush Creek. Somehow in the convoluted thinking of money-seeking America, they balance and justify each other.
But if we build it, will they come? Where are these thousands of people going to come from? Where will they work? In construction? We're painfully aware of just how short-lived that bubble can be. We are in a horrid housing market, so is the answer further saturation?
You'll have to ask our leaders at Town Hall for the answers to that because both of these proposals appear to be on a fast track to their approval. But Eagle can survive with a better plan at our eastern gateway. We've been predicted to be a town full of tumbleweeds before, but we can get through this without selling our soul. A final thought: Recently at 8 a.m., there was total gridlock of Highway 6 traffic from a quarter of a mile west of Sylvan Lake roundabout to I-70, and commuters were faced with about a half hour to make that trip.
Eagle is now a town with a population of about 6,500, but I doubt there are numbers to show exactly how many live in the vicinity who use Highway 6 through town. Upper Kaibab is outside of town (which also means they can't vote), and everyone on Brush Creek, Salt Creek, Bruce Creek, Frost Creek, even some Gypsum residents are in the same category, but we all affect the traffic in town.
Studies have indicated that traffic currently moves at a D or F level of service at peak times of the day. What is an east Eagle interchange within a shopping mall going to do to help people move through town, along with a few thousand new neighbors?
Save yourself the brain pain of Town Hall. Just write your thoughts to the planning department at the town of Eagle and send to tomboni@townof
eagle.org. Your opinion must be counted, noted, and entered into record just as if you sat in a meeting for several hours.
Three years ago, over 100 people who cared about Eagle's future packed Town Hall and voted overwhelmingly for preservation of Eagle as we know it. Are you still out there? Just write.
Rosie Shearwood
Brush Creek
As I remember, the residents of the town of Eagle voted down Eagle River Station in January 2010. How is it that the Town Board has essentially approved ERS and the final vote is Feb. 14?
Call me ignorant, but I thought this issue was off the table. I decided to do some research to find out who composes the Eagle Town Board of Trustees and why they insist on steamrolling ERS. The following connections I found to be noteworthy:
Mayor Ed Woodland: An attorney who specializes in construction litigation, commercial litigation, estate planning and probate.
Scott Turnipseed: His company Scott S. Turnipseed AIA specializes in custom residential construction and custom residential architecture. Not to mention architecture consulting and commercial development. It seems obvious as to why commercial and residential development would be in his best interest. Perhaps his company would stand to make a substantial amount of money?
Scot Webster is a real estate agent for Slifer Smith & Frampton. Houses built mean houses to buy and sell. Need I say more?
Tom Boni, Eagle town planner, is a big proponent of Eagle River Station and in an excerpt from an article in the Eagle Valley Enterprise, Boni states that at “full build-out of both phases of development, the town estimates ERS would bring in excess of 1,700 jobs and 1,200 employees. ERS consultant planner Tom Braun said the developer believes about 500 employees will be needed for the first phase of the project.”
As many people before me have stated, these jobs are temporary! They will drive the economy temporarily. Once the building is complete, we will have empty store buildings and empty houses, and those of us who love Eagle will be left to feel the ramifications of foreclosures and negligible property values.
Construction jobs have been driving this valley since the '90s. It's time for our esteemed Town Board to find a solution to create jobs that aren't related to construction and real estate. Maybe try to attract a company like Hewlett-Packard. But when half of your Town Board has something to gain from development, it doesn't bode well for land preservation.
Eagle River Station and Haymeadow won't die until there are new members of the Town Board and the Planning and Zoning Commission (who are appointed by the Town Board of Trustees).
Several of the members of the Eagle Town Board are up for re-election in April. Make a statement and vote against them, or better yet, run against them! Save our valley, and make your voice heard!
Erin Mundo
Eagle
Watch out
All women in the United States should pay very careful attention to events swirling around the Susan G. Komen Foundation's recent decision (allegedly related to pressure from anti-abortion activists) to stop funding Planned Parenthood's breast cancer screening programs, which later was reversed. This decision represents only the tip of the iceberg, and in the long run, nothing less than losing the right to control one's own fertility is at stake.
I think this stands as a warning to all women of the likely outcome should a pro-life man (any one of the current contenders, for example) be elected to the White House but also the collective power of a citizenry enraged by a bad decision on the part of Komen.
Assessing the field of Republican presidential candidates by background, word and deed, it is apparent that the religious right wing of the Republican party has gained the upper hand and has offered up a posse of potential candidates sworn to uphold too often misguided and very out-of-date religious dogma solely designed by men to keep women in what they believe is their proper place: bearing and caring for children, keeping house and always bowing to the wishes of men. Why so many seemingly intelligent women in this day and age continue to put up with this harsh reality is beyond me.
Whoever is elected president this coming November will likely have the opportunity to appoint at least two new judges to the Supreme Court during their term in office.
With all of the Republican candidates for president declaring themselves to be right-to-lifers, should any one of them be elected president they would be pressured by their constituents to appoint anti-abortion judges to the bench, eventually resulting in the sharp curtailment of the existing reproductive rights of women. Reference is made to Roe vs. Wade.
It may be “the economy, stupid,” but in my opinion, “it” should not be at the expense of every woman losing the right to be able to decide for herself the most intimate and very personal question of if and when to bear children.
Peter Bergh
Edwards
ERS not worth troubles it will bring
Please hear me, Eagle-area people. I feel as though we're trying to push a two-legged elephant up a hill, but this is no time to quit. Nor is it time for people to throw up their hands and say nothing about the future of our town.
In the next two or three months, Eagle will either continue to be the town we recognize or turn the corner toward urban anonymity. Maybe that sounds a bit overstated, but then take a look at what is steamrolling into our future while no one seems to be looking.
I know there are people who would welcome more shopping in Eagle. I just wonder if they understand or consider what is attached to the Eagle River Station big-box experience, and is it worth the price tag?
Try to visualize a retainer wall 30 feet from I-70. It will attempt to soften the effect of four-story buildings where we now see hayfields, but travelers from the east will just see Fort Eagle as their first impression of our town.
So who cares what travelers think of us? We should. Do they want to get off the interstate and come to the heart of Eagle (Broadway), or do they just go to Applebee's and leave. But wait. Applebee's is an assumption, as is the rest of the commercial components of this touted revenue savior. We haven't a clue what stores would be out there and neither do the developers. Target was a rumor last time around, and this time, it isn't even on the table.
They simply want big-box retail (to be determined after approval) and never mind who that might be. They are actually now mentioning more pricey, upscale retail that bears no relevance to our mountain town.
And they have brought 550 residential rental units into the mix. The developer has tried to convince our Town Board those units will have no significant affect on our schools, post office or traffic, as there would be a magic ramp to I-70. However, that interchange will only be functional just prior to retail stores opening their doors, so how do the projected 760 construction workers get to work on any given work day? You've guessed it — Chambers and Highway 6. This is such an affront to the residents of the Eagle area, who, by the way, have no assurance they will be among those workers. The town's response is “with growth comes growing pains.”
And then here comes steamroller No. 2. Haymeadow is patiently biding its time on this town's busy agenda. Theirs is a proposal for around 1,000 new residences on Brush Creek. Somehow in the convoluted thinking of money-seeking America, they balance and justify each other.
But if we build it, will they come? Where are these thousands of people going to come from? Where will they work? In construction? We're painfully aware of just how short-lived that bubble can be. We are in a horrid housing market, so is the answer further saturation?
You'll have to ask our leaders at Town Hall for the answers to that because both of these proposals appear to be on a fast track to their approval. But Eagle can survive with a better plan at our eastern gateway. We've been predicted to be a town full of tumbleweeds before, but we can get through this without selling our soul. A final thought: Recently at 8 a.m., there was total gridlock of Highway 6 traffic from a quarter of a mile west of Sylvan Lake roundabout to I-70, and commuters were faced with about a half hour to make that trip.
Eagle is now a town with a population of about 6,500, but I doubt there are numbers to show exactly how many live in the vicinity who use Highway 6 through town. Upper Kaibab is outside of town (which also means they can't vote), and everyone on Brush Creek, Salt Creek, Bruce Creek, Frost Creek, even some Gypsum residents are in the same category, but we all affect the traffic in town.
Studies have indicated that traffic currently moves at a D or F level of service at peak times of the day. What is an east Eagle interchange within a shopping mall going to do to help people move through town, along with a few thousand new neighbors?
Save yourself the brain pain of Town Hall. Just write your thoughts to the planning department at the town of Eagle and send to tomboni@townof
eagle.org. Your opinion must be counted, noted, and entered into record just as if you sat in a meeting for several hours.
Three years ago, over 100 people who cared about Eagle's future packed Town Hall and voted overwhelmingly for preservation of Eagle as we know it. Are you still out there? Just write.
Rosie Shearwood
Brush Creek
