HomeMy WebLinkAboutExhbit EE - Mark Fuller email dated June 7, 2013Microsoft Office Outlook - Memo Style
1 Tamra Allen From: Fred Jarman Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 11:32 AM To: Tamra Allen Subject: FW: Garfield County website inquiry This one's for you. Cheers‐‐‐‐‐‐Original Message‐‐‐‐‐From:
Mark Fuller [mailto:fulcon@comcast.net] Sent: Friday, June 07, 2013 12:27 PM To: Fred Jarman Subject: Garfield County website inquiry Mark Fuller has sent you a message: Proposed LUC
Changes 970 963 4959 June 7, 2013 Dear Commissioners I am writing to object to the proposed changes in the County’s Land Use Code that would remove local protections for riparian zones
and wetlands. These areas are vital to local ecosystems that support the area’s recreational economy and water quality and loss of local protections would put them at significant risk
of permanent degradation. It has been my experience that the State of Colorado and the Federal Government do not have the resources or the local knowledge that will allow them to step
into a meaningful and timely enforcement role when it comes to local land use issues, so I would advise against any assumption that so‐called ‘redundant’ State and Federal regulations
will have the same deterrent effect as strong local controls. If these regulations are removed or weakened by the County, the only development that will be encouraged by such an action
is development that will take advantage of that weakening by encroaching on and damaging riparian and wetlands areas. Since encouraging that kind of damaging activity is clearly not
the County’s goal, it is difficult to see what possible good could come from this proposed action. Finally, having worked to build a local coalition and constituency with the common
goal of protecting local water resources, it is personally discouraging to see the County contemplate action that will lower those protections. This action would go against the public’s
desire to protect our local waterways and the wetlands and riparian areas that support them, a desire that I have heard repeated unanimously from one end of the watershed to the other
over the last several years. If it is the County’s goal to encourage development, support business and remove bureaucratic obstacles to economic growth, I sincerely encourage you to
look for ways to accomplish that goal without endangering one of the most fragile and abused components of the local environment. Although I have spoken to you in the past in my role
as Director of the Ruedi Water and Power Authority, these comments are offered solely as a private citizen concerned about our local water resources. These comments have not been endorsed
by RWAPA and do not represent that group or its members in any way. Yours truly, Mark Fuller