4 —October 2001—North Forty News
I
Bender
says citizens' interests put first
The
September, North Forty News report that Buckeye residents took the county
commissioners to task for supporting their efforts to preserve open space, on
one hand, while on the other hand allowing tower constructions clearly described the two
sides of his land use issue.
Those
citizens who still consider tower denial more important than protection of
property rights, agriculture and the open space, rural character, and wildlife
habitat they provide deserve the rationale for my decision. The county
advisory boards make focused issue recommendations without the advantage of
public input and broad land use perspective. The planning commission makes more
informed, comprehensive land use recommendations. The relevance and consistency
of reasoning or their recommendation, therefore, becomes most important for MY
decision process.
The
necessity and need of the tower proposal has no legal or relevant standing for
consideration in our land use process. The irrelevant argument that the killing
of night migratory bird species only found on the East Coast with no valid
evidence or reports of such killing with existing towers and species in the
Front Range was presented for consumption by only the uninformed, emotionally
driven disadvantaged.
The
one compelling argument made by the Buckeye residents was that the intrusive
visual impact of the towers would, discourage residential development in their
area. With their testimony actually favoring tower construction to prevent
residential development and to assist their efforts to preserve open space, my
decision to approve the special review put citizen interest and the environment
over temporary visual impacts.
Tom
Bender
Larimer County Commissioner
Bellvue