Appalled at dog park proposal
I am fond of dogs — they have been a part of my family for many years.
However, I am appalled at the proposal to convert 60 acres of Elk Meadow Park into a new dog park. The previous park, located off Stagecoach, was a mess, environmentally and functionally. While Mr. Erdahl’s plan is to open a new one in “stages,” he offers no evidence to suggest how problems leading to the closure of the previous facility are being addressed. A large parking area and restrooms are nice, but they don’t begin to address the issues of crowding and pollution.
At Stagecoach, the stench was overpowering, and the creek was effectively turned into an open sewer by erosion. I, and others, hauled out bags of animal waste, but it was impossible to keep up.
Stagecoach became a narrow parking lot as visitors descended on the area from all along the Front Range. A JCOS rep claims to want a new “local” rather than “regional” site. Again, no hint as to how to possibly do that.
I applauded the efforts of Friends of Evergreen Dog Park in promoting and protecting the area, but their efforts were too little and too late and JCOS had no choice but to close the park.
When weighing benefits against the certainty of similar problems attendant to a new, much smaller, dog park, its time to realize there is no value in having a part of Elk Meadow Park turn into another Front Range animal feces dump.
Jim Hunsaker, Evergreen
We need to consider what applications are before the county right now
Last week I read that a new term was coming out of California regarding opposition to large developments in rural and residential areas, BANANA: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone.
Much like our use of NIMBY, there are groups struggling with the eagerness of local officials to approve developments even when public outcry demands a better review.
For all the years that I have lived here (almost 50 now), when the community has spoken out in opposition to a development, I have never known it to be senseless or frivolous. Most of the times when this community has spoken out against a development, objection has proven to be with just cause.
Issues that strain our resources or need resources that we simply do not have are the first things that come to mind. When David Chapman asked for a moratorium on permits for development while the county re-evaluates its current regulations, this was a valid request for the health and safety of our mountain communities in unincorporated Jefferson County.
We need to consider what applications are before the county right now and how any of these will ever be sustainable by the communities being impacted. Without regulations that require the development of true infrastructure based on the resources that really exist, not what we wish we had, we cannot move forward and the BoCC and Planning Commission must tackle this now.
If this means a moratorium on accepting any new applications, we as a community must demand that.
Rhea Slowik, Evergreen