Steve White: Montrose County Land Use Director
Dear Sir:
We would again like to commend and thank you for your professional demeanor in the conduct of last night’s meeting. We especially wish to thank you for your patience, calmness, and willingness to explain complex issues to us lay public.
While we understand and appreciate the difficulty of managing and clarifying the issues at hand, and the need to keep the meeting on track (confining discussion to agenda items). We are concerned that the Master Plan continues to be marginalized- with staff statements like “it does not contain a sufficient level of exactitude” to be used or adopted…
In our estimation, master plans- by definition- are not supposed to proscribe “exact” measures; rather, they are meant to define broad and general concepts that are vital to achieving a community’s long term vision for itself. Regulations and ordinances are the “exact” means of implementing that vision, and should be derived from the Master Plan’s concepts. We believe that our Master Plan clearly states that vision- with repeated emphasis on “maintaining our rural heritage by strengthening and enhancing agriculture”. This is the primary quality that makes our county special and desirable- and it is rapidly disappearing…
While the Master Plan is not perfect, is somewhat dated, and could stand some revision- it is still a valuable document whose principles, policies, and intent were arrived at - only after careful deliberation and considerable public input. It is the only plan that we have. It is the peoples’ plan…
Its acceptance and adoption is primary, and should preceed any further actions on regulations and zoning revision. We need to acknowledge “where we’re going”, and “what we want this county to be like for our grandkids” - or we’ll never get “there.” Haphazard, indiscriminate, band-aid fixes on regulations and ordinances- without the guidance and direction of the Master Plan puts the proverbial “cart before the horse.” More promises to “review and consider” acceptance of the Master Plan will not suffice.
Talk is cheap…This county is running out of time and options.
Without adoption of our Master Plan, the default “plan” will continue to be that of the development community, condoned by the majority of the Planning Commission (who, not coincidentally, have real estate and development backgrounds) at the expense of the overall citizenry’s quality of life.
We encourage you to confront this contradiction head-on; and will support your efforts to do so in any way we can. Thanks again for your professionalism.
Mary Wood
Montrose Citizens for Responsible Growth
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