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To the Montrose County Planning Commission, Montrose Board of Commissioners, and the County Land Use Staff;
Recently a number of residents have expressed their concerns – indeed, opposition – to the county’s effort to update and revise the land use provisions of our Master Plan. We are now commenting to respond to that opposition. The Master Plan – while imperfect and outdated – is the only plan we have. It is precisely because of its imperfection and lack of updating – (mandated, but ignored for many years) – that we are now engaged in this difficult process.
In the face of relentless, unmanaged growth, a multitude of citizens have expressed concerns to the county over the contradiction between our Master Plans’ provisions and this indiscriminate growth. Consequently, the county determined that our Master Plan was outdated and lacking in “sufficient exactitude” and therefore unusable without updating/revision.
To the county’s credit – and under the direction of our professional land use planners – this revision process was begun last fall (2006). The county was sectioned into several areas, and citizen meetings were scheduled with multiple advance notices for each area. Any resident was encouraged to attend and comment at any meeting. Additionally, comments were solicited from anyone unable to attend.
The Rural Alliance for Private Property Rights circulated flyers to encourage supporters to attend the meetings – which they did, and forcefully expressed their views. Now – apparently dissatisfied with the results (which are hardly finalized), this group has submitted a letter – basically calling the process “unethical” and asking the county to suspend or cancel the whole process… Read the rest of this entry »
