We will be meeting Forest Service personnel at the Shirley Site, a parking area on the dirt road that goes to O’Haver Lake. Drive south on Hwy 285 out of Poncha Springs, going up Poncha Pass, and take the right turn to O’Haver Lake. The Shirley Site is approximately 1.5 miles down the road, on the left where you would turn right to go to the lake. We can park in the Shirley Site lot, and Forest Service personnel will ferry us up to the work site on Silver Creek. Since more travel than usual is involved, the volunteer lunch after work will be moved back to 2:00pm behind the Salida Cafe and Roastery.

As usual, come prepared with water, gloves, long pants and sturdy boots. You might want to bring a snack if you get hungry before 2. Tools will be provided.

Saturday, February 12, 2011, 9:00am: ShinDig to Open Little Rainbow.

Weather permitting, SMT is scheduling the February Volunteer ShinDig to coincide with the Grand Opening of the Little Rainbow Trail and to do some re-routing of the trail as it reaches the CR110 parking lot. Meet at the CR110 trailhead parking lot, which is 2.2 miles south on CR110 from Hwy 50. Turn left at the 2.2 mile point and go up a short incline to the parking lot. We will work on the trail until 12 noon, at which time the trail opening ceremony will take place. After the ceremony, lunch will be provided to the volunteers behind or inside the Salida Cafe and Roastery. As usual, come prepared with water, gloves, long pants and sturdy boots. Be sure to dress warmly for the low February morning temperatures. Tools will be provided

Meet at the U.S. Forest Service office on HWY 50 (325 West Rainbow Boulevard, Salida) at 8:30AM, Saturday, August 14, 2010.  The group will carpool to the worksite from there.

Please confirm your attendance with me (eric@salidamountaintrails.org) no later than August 11th, so the Forest Service knows how many sandwiches to provide.  If you don’t confirm before then, you’ll need to bring your own lunch.

As usual, come prepared with water, gloves, long pants and sturdy boots. Tools will be provided. Find out how satisfying digging in the dirt can be.

This is a good start.  However, I would like to see wording in the Chaffee County Land Use Code that allows for subdivision of land into high density residential unit/lot clustering in conjunction with “productive” open space.  An incentive model might incorporate a sliding scale that allows developments that maintain a portion of the water rights intact and set aside land for “productive” agricultural use to develop the highest density subdivision allowed under the code.  If a developer chooses to maintain open space without maintaining water rights or putting it to a productive agricultural use, the land could be developed at a somewhat lower density.  And, if the developer chooses to develop with 2 acre parcels, or whatever the County decides upon, then so be it.  However, I believe that once the high density model with productive open space is developed and has proved itself, other similar developments would follow.  The proposed land use model encourages development that uses a high density clustering model that preserves open space, preserves productive agriculture land, and preserves water rights in the county.

Guidestone’s Land Link Initiative is be one of several tools that would allow developers within Chaffee County to take advantage of the higher density development model as described above.  This program promotes productive land.  It creates opportunities for farmers and ranchers by facilitating equitable, secure and affordable access to agricultural land through management and lease agreements that Guidestone facilitates.  It offers solutions for transitioning non-productive land into productive agriculture.  Farmers are provided tools that offer new approaches to business models and technical skills that redefine the possibilities of high altitude agriculture.  Thus, farmers and ranchers gain stability and a chance to play a significant role in strengthening the local food economy of the valley as well as maintaining its agricultural heritage for years to come.

Auxiliary benefits:  Promoting productive open space (agriculture) helps support the  local food economy, which keeps money local, creates jobs, preserves productive open space, maintains water with the land and preserves the cultural heritage of the valley.

Moreover, a local food economy (Low Energy Food System) works into the EnergyNow plan adopted by Chaffee County. The Chaffee County energy audit found that 13% of the CO2 emissions produced in the county are derived from food production with another 21% derived from transportation.  This is in line with national averages that indicate approximately 20% of the energy used in the United States goes toward growing and transporting food to the consumer, with the average distance from the farm to the consumer for any given food product being 1500 miles.  By producing more food locally, we cut the distance of food to market dramatically and thus reduce our energy usage.

I encourage both citizens and government officials to consider the above recommendations and incorporate them into guiding principles of programs and policies.

To find out more about Guidestone’s Land Link Initiative, visit our website at www.guidestonecolorado.org

Tom Pokorny, Director

Guidestone

For me, her story raises the question of why? Why is there yet another committee of citizen laymen charged with something that seems better handled by professional staff?

Government-appointed citizen committees have their place, especially those like the county’s roundtable committee that was so carefully and deliberately selected to embrace all stakeholders – especially those with the most to gain or lose. Such diverse, collaborative forums help local officials learn more about the issues at hand and weigh and balance competing viewpoints. At the end of the local two-year roundtable process, while not everyone was 100 percent happy with the resulting guiding land planning recommendations, everyone agreed they could live with them.

Let’s build on that achievement by letting the pro staff take over where the laymen, logically, left off.

Read through the land use code. I think those without formal training and expertise in land use planning can agree it’s pretty technical. Even though I’m a landowner, with property at both ends of the county, I wouldn’t pretend to have the expertise necessary to update such a technical document.

So it is at this juncture, now that the community has studied the issues and spoken, we can and should get out of the way and let the county’s educated, trained and certified pros draft the new code. It’s a technical job.

I think of it like this. I own a compact car but that doesn’t mean I know how to fix it. Even if I owned a bigger car, say a Cadillac Escalade, or even a whole fleet of cars, owning more doesn’t mean I’m automatically more qualified to fix any of them.

So I would let the pro staff draft the updates then go back to the roundtable participants for feedback and edits to ensure consistency with that group’s recommendations. The revised draft would then logically be presented to the planning commission for review and referral to the county commissioners for public hearing and final approval. Those steps alone represent a lengthy process, probably at least six months, with ample opportunity for public input.

Our current land use code is a jalopy and the longer we delay repairing it, the longer we get in our own way in achieving the universally shared goals of sustainable economic development and preservation of quality of life.

With the decline in new construction due to the sorry state of the economy, it may seem to those in office that they can continue to dawdle. I would argue the reason our current code is so desperately antiquated is due to dawdling rooted in a collective, years-long lack of intestinal fortitude among elected officials driven, in part, by a persistent disinformation campaign by a lobby whose minds appear closed to the possibilities of a more progressive approach to planning which, by the way, does NOT inherently mean infringing on private property rights or devaluing real estate. Heaps of research, data and case studies prove quite the contrary, actually.

Let’s get a new code in place sooner than later and put an end to the interminable and polarizing game of political hot potato. Our future is riding on it.

Most people believe that one can subdivide to two-acre lots anywhere in the County.  Did you know that, based on our current regulations, existing agricultural lands and recreational lands can be subdivided to a minimum of five-acre lots if they are used agriculturally?

The Citizens’ Recommendation on Density in a Nutshell

Among other recommendations, the citizens land use roundtable recommended that those lands that can now be subdivided down to five-acre lots will be able get down to two-acre lots if the lots are clustered (see below).  This is actually an “upzoning” and gives property owners additional development options than what now exists.

Some History

The people of Chaffee County should be aware and be proud that a diverse team of citizens came together to form some great recommendations to guide the update of the land use policy. (This was not a flippant attempt of any one special interest group.)  This was years’ worth of true collaboration that sometimes got pretty testy. The Citizens Land Use Roundtable hashed out solutions that attempt to truly retain Chaffee County’s character and historical roots, while encouraging economic viability.

What is Clustering?

Clustering means placing homes and buildings closer together to allow more open space on the periphery that connects to public lands, existing trail networks, sensitive lands, or adjacent to and useful to productive agricultural land. Clustering  encourages good design, but it can help to reduce utility and roads costs for the developer and in the long run it increases economic viability for a community. A disadvantage of clustering, some say, is that the “design” portion of the development will actually take some thought, which boils down to the perception that “thinking means time and time means money”. All of the members of the roundtable  agreed that good design is important for the long-term viability of the County. The incoming Board of Commissioners have expressed their commitment to  good design and to create incentives accordingly.

Clustering in rural area

Did You Know?

The existing land use code is inconsistent, difficult to use, creates headaches and unnecessary time for developers and County officials, wastes too much paper, does not implement the visions expressed by the Citizens of Chaffee County, and… (Ask County staff for more complaints!)

How You Can Get Involved

There are several ways you can get involved:

• Come to Planning Commission meetings
• Contribute to updating the land use code (subcommittee?)
• get on the land use update email list

The Board of County Commissioners will be selecting new members for the County’s Planning Commission during the week of January 19th.  Then we all can embark on updating the existing, badly-outdated Land Use Code.

Call Planner Kim Antonucci at 719-530-5567 for more information.

Letters will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 22, 2008 in the Commissioner’s Office, 104 Crestone Ave., Salida, or mailed to P.O. Box 699, Salida, CO. 81201. You may also e-mail letters of interest to pturner@chaffeecounty.org. For further information please call (719) 539-2218