Thirty-one years ago, my family and I led the initiative that resulted in Catharine Carpenter donating 80 acres to the city of Cortez for a natural area. From the beginning, our goals were to encourage wise management, and offer the community healthy open space options for physical and mental health.
Every year, we see praiseworthy improvements. City staff and volunteers are to be commended for their successful efforts.
Carpenter would be pleased to see the hundreds of individuals, groups of friends and families who actively use Carpenter Natural Area on a weekly basis. Not only does the area support healthy individuals and families, it grows our trust in each other and our community, and welcomes visitors to stay longer and shop in our stores.
With this positive history of success, why should we jeopardize this investment and compromise the quality of experiences by changing the adjacent property’s existing zone from commercial to industrial? What about the long-term, secondary and cumulative impacts to the community?
Imagine the property is rezoned to industrial in 2023, then the owners change their minds on the business model? Or perhaps, they sell out to a more impactive, large industrial business?
It is not the City Council’s responsibility to fix a mistaken purchase and ill-fitting business location. I ask for a vote of "no“ to both the after-the-fact conditional use permit and to amend Cortez’s zoning map.
Victoria Atkins
Cortez
