Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This is THE source for insight, opinions and all kinds of information on the growth and political issues impacting Eastern Boulder County, Colorado. Come here to see the latest from those in the know in Louisville, Lafayette, Superior, Erie and Longmont.
NOTE: This Blog will no longer be updated as of December 4, 2007.
Lijit Search of this Blog
Local News Sources:
Visitors since 1/10/07:
Links to Other Items of Interest
Subscribe To EastBoCo in Your Reader
Favorite Blogs and Websites
Labels
- Lafayette (116)
- Boulder County (89)
- Louisville (65)
- Longmont (57)
- Erie (47)
- Superior (32)
- updates (30)
- WalMart (13)
- 2C (7)
- BVSD (6)
- Colorado (5)
- national issues (5)
- 2B (3)
- Broomfield (3)
- Weld County (3)
- election (3)
- 2A (2)
- 3A (2)
- St Vrain Valley School District (2)
- Beauprez (1)
- Centaurus High School (1)
- Coroner (1)
- Daveco (1)
- FasTracks (1)
- Frederick (1)
- Larkridge (1)
- Niwot (1)
- November 2007 election (1)
- RTD (1)
- health care (1)
- internet (1)
- random news (1)
9 comments:
This is a great letter. Alex is very smart.
Well, let's take a broader look at this.
Erie's Mayor and Trustees are saying that the Hwy 7 by-pass as currently envisioned is dead. Plain and simple. They will not co-fund the environmetal impact study and will not support the by-pass being built through Erie.
They also thought that by refusing to participate in revenue sharing on 287, they were willing to make that financial sacrifice. (And there are real problems with a Lowe's moving farther east on 287.)
Their position is that since the majority of Lafayette's city council publicly supports the annexation, Lafayette was backing away from its commitment to mitigating traffic on E. Baseline from the city border to 287. I would hope that the council understands that. So the moving parking lot that will be created from the Super Wal-Mart and the proposed Lowe's store past the Library, Rec Center, and Pioneer Elementary will not be mitigated. (Public Road is already becoming the 287 by-pass as well).
So is the 4 acres Alex talks about worth that mess? Something to think about?
Kerry, since you have apparently never read the City's comp plan, haven't read the Open Space and Trails Master Plan, and/or don't care about the City's planning efforts, and have also taken the approach of arguing every issue in isolation, there's not really much point to this endless confusion of the issues.
Yes, the 4 acres is worth it. Traffic impacts DO NOT happen as a result of changing lines and text on a map, open space acquisition in accordance with the City plan does. Traffic impacts will be addressed in any future land use application, which would be required for any development on the site at 119th and Baseline.
Something to think about: The Erie mayor is involved in either a complex or extremely obvious bluff, but in either case a bluff. That bluff is intended to serve the interests of Erie, and, if Issue A fails, it most certainly will. If what Kerry says is true, that bluff is also apparently premised on no one having the slightest bit of awareness of the City of Lafayette comp plan. Erie shouldn't be surprised at this proposed annexation.
Actually, Alex. I went to all of the public sessions on the Comp Plan. I also know it did not reflect the public input. It is a plan, not cast in concrete.
I am also familiar with the planning process. For example, the Super Wal-Mart traffic analysis did not include an analysis of traffic east of 287 on Baseline. Did you know one of the two worst intersections per Public Works in town is Caria and E. Baseline? WM opens in August and nothing will be done there. And what expertise does the Planning Commission have regarding traffic analysis? Zippo and neither does the city. When the traffic plan for the a now defunct residential development off Baseline was submitted, it did not even follow the accepted guidelines for traffic analysis. When Forrest Park was approved, residents warned that its exit on to 95th Street would be a major hazzard. It was approved and now Public Works cites it as one of the two most dangerous in Lafayette.
It has taken over three years to get traffic lights installed on Crossing and Baseline.
The Mayor Of Erie is speaking for their Trustees. That is their position. The Highway 7 by-pass is dead for now. Oops, it is in the Comp Plan. Erie is not playing.
Tossing the comp plan aside as invalid or "just a plan" is a dangerous proposition. Why, just about two years ago a local citizen newsletter took another citizen to task for criticizing a big box store that was accommodated by the comp plan. The proper way to deal with disputes about what the comp plan does and does not do is not to throw it all away, but to amend the plan and look at it more closely. I look forward to the council moving forward with subarea planning, since it is called for in exactly the type of situation we have presently.
And maybe I can be enlightened with some knowledge about the accepted guidelines for traffic analysis, since I'm just an ignorant planning commissioner. Please, feel free.
This conversation is about to end. What I can't stand is hypocrisy. Kerry, you are correct that SuperWalMart will open without any contribution to the cost of a signal at Caria and Baseline, the assumption being that no significant amount of traffic will drive south through the industrial subdivision, particularly to utilize the through and left turn movements at the Baseline intersection. I agree that that is a questionable assumption, but it does follow "accepted guidelines." I don't recall your negative vote on WalMart, though.
Finally, I agree, the Highway 7 bypass is dead for now. Until just about February 27th.
Alex,
I voted against the Wal-Mart Economic Development Agreement. Check the city council minutes. It passed 4-3. Do your homework.
The EDA allows WM to keep all sales tax revenue (except for the open spaces taxes) up to $2.4M. There is no yearly cap on it like all the others that were done. So if WM takes business away from King Soopers, Albertsons, local garden stores, auto repair shops, etc., WM keeps that sales tax up to $2.4M and the city will see a loss of that revenue. The deal runs 42 months. The effect has been delayed a year because WM is delayed a year. It is the worst EDA the city has done.
At the council meeting when presented with the traffic plan, I asked the WM reps if the traffic mitigation for WM on Baseline would be in effect BEFORE the store opened. They assured me it would be. But to date, I see nothing happening, on Baseline or 287.
As for being enlightened on accepted guidelines for traffic analysis, you prove my point. Ask for a workshop for the PC to have it explained. Boulder County has an expert you can contact.
Lastly, the Thomas Open Space today wouldn't exist if the neighborhoods had not challenged the proposed 110 unit housing development. Those residents knew that Caria and Baseline was a mess already several years ago and the plan also included routing traffic through their neighborhoods. Sometimes the plan has to be changed to deal with reality. Now everyone touts the organic farming on that space and the preservation of the area around Waneka Lake.
I thought you might say that, Kerry. I thought you might try to connect voting no on the WalMart EDA to your technical points about traffic.
You voted yes on everything about SuperWalMart but the EDA. Now you come out saying the City shouldn't even annex land that might be home to a big box because of traffic, when you clearly contributed to the very "problems" you now purport to identify. You did vote to approve the physical development of the 287 Commercial Center.
I don't think your votes on WalMart were wrong, I just think you're a hypocrite to pretend like you've been the wise guy all along. All the concerns you've thrown up in an attempt to cloud Issue A just seem to demonstrate a pattern of either reckless negligence in your past votes, or that you really just want us to be confused about what is important and what is not. Maybe both.
My expectation of a public servant is that they will make tough decisions for defensible reasons and then defend those decisions. And if they make a mistake, they will admit it and tell us why they made the mistake. One of these must be true to explain your vote on SuperWalMart and to explain your vote on the Waneka annexation (just to cover the two issues that you have brought up of your own accord, I could probably dig up more examples...) But you've done nothing to defend your record on those counts and nothing to admit that you made mistakes.
And, honestly, I don't think much of your knowledge of traffic analysis either. I'd like to know what "accepted standards" have been violated by recent studies - and I will admit my mistake if I'm wrong. I'm pretty sure SuperWalMart will not get a Certificate of Occupany before they complete traffic improvements; that is, after all, the accepted standard for completion of that kind of mitigation.
How Crossing Drive ever slipped for as long as it did is the story of a City without a concurrency standard for public improvements. Completely unacceptable, but again, it happened during your watch on the council.
Thomas OS and Waneka's 32 acres are apples and oranges in terms of open space values. For the record, one of the big motivators that caused me to push for the development and adoption of the Open Space and Trail Master Plan when I was on LOSAC was the manner in which Thomas OS threw off open space priorities and funding for at least a year, probably more. Inviting every neighborhood group to do the same with the vacant parcel next to them is a disaster in the making. Especially when you're talking about costs that far, far exceed the precedent at Thomas.
I'm not one of your haters, Kerry, but in my humble opinion you're only exposing how spotty your knowledge is, and how you lead by being a naysayer. You really could do better.
Sooner or later someone had to say 'the emperor has no clothes!'. Well done.
Some may wonder what happens if Erie doesn’t cooperate on the Highway 7 realignment (bypass)…..
Nothing… Erie is not a deal breaker in the bypass. The decision maker is Colorado Department of Transportation(CDOT), NOT Erie and NOT Lafayette.
So far Erie has participated in the multi-jurisdictional talks with CDOT although they are not bound to stick with the group. I would be very surprised, however, if they removed themselves from the process as they have a lot to lose and a lot to gain…. just as Lafayette does. However in or out the process does continue.
The most critical short term need will be for dollars to pay for a Corridor Optimization Study(COS) and the environmental impact study(EIS). The COS will be funded 50% by CDOT and 50% by the participating jurisdictions (currently Erie, Lafayette, Adams County,Broomfield, Northglen, and Brighton). Dollars come from sales and use tax revenues and, for this this type of expenditure, could include development fees. And where do we get THOSE dollars?
Post a Comment