I thought Mayor Karen Sheek’s column on the proposed revision of the city land use code was very well argued. Lots of facts there. There was a rather lengthy public input process, which did last a few years. Plenty of chances to comment, which I did at a couple of the meetings.
Durango does have a better looking Walmart than us, probably because they had a better land use code than us. Realtors should look to the future. Curb appeal does affect property values. And Karen also talked about the fact that newer construction materials and techniques can make buildings safer.
I’m on The Bridge board of directors and was on the building committee for our recent construction project. We dealt with the city a lot. And it did cost us some money. A few of the things the City wanted?
A handicap-accessible water fountain. (Duh. We have clients in wheelchairs).A trash containment structure. (The Bridge at peak can take somewhere around 50 people. That’s lots of trash. We have wind here. That containment structure protects our neighbors from our trash.)Bollards to protect the gas mains and gas meter from a vehicle crashing into them. (Duh.)I’ve heard that Karen is a Republican. I’m a Democrat. Don’t make no difference. What she says makes sense.
We’ve got a good bunch of city planners on our payroll. They developed a plan with lots of citizen input. Before they started, they got a $200,000 grant to make sure they had the resources to do the job right.
I hope that we can elect a City Council that will look to the future, try to envision what they would like Cortez to be in 2025 and 2030 and then act on it.
Jim RogersCortez
