Editor,
Last week a postcard from the West Thorn project showed up in my mailbox. It wasn’t mailed, just delivered by former county planner Cathie Pagano. She’s now a private consultant for the West Thorn developers. The postcard states “Join us for community site walks this summer.” Thinking that maybe this time that they are including the public and surround neighbors, I checked if this information published in last week’s Gunnison Country Times. It wasn’t, which is not surprising. They aren’t interested in including the surrounding neighborhood property owners in giving them feedback. They did the same thing when they initially started their scoping phase. Simply put, they don’t care what the impacts will be to the surrounding neighborhoods or the city as a whole. They just want a cash cow of rental units masked as workforce housing. Private equity only cares about money and nothing else.
Even though I live a block away, the only reason why I received a postcard informing me of these site visits was because I purposely approached the group of consultants and Jeff Hermanson. They were casually walking down the center South Thid Street, then West Gunnison Avenue after a stroll through the Lazy K park to the river. They definitely didn’t appreciate my comments. Cathie was kind enough to say she would talk with me and hear my concerns. It wasn’t until I pressed her for a meeting when the postcard was placed in my mailbox.
For people who are interested in site tours and giving the developer feedback, the dates remaining are June 23, July 28 and Aug. 4. Meeting times are 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and last about two hours. They will be meeting at the northeast corner of Thornton Way and West Gunnison Avenue.
I’ve floated the idea in previous letters about a land swap between the rodeo grounds and the West Thorn parcel. If our current community leaders truly cared about the future of Gunnison, they would see the major benefits in doing this. Putting development at the rodeo grounds makes sense. It’s connected to the city’s grid, it’s walkable and connects to the RTA. Moving the rodeo grounds to the West Thorn parcel makes sense because it maintains the rural feel of the west side of Gunnison. There’s natural water features for the animals and Gunnison Gardens is across the street. We could maintain all of the things that make the west side a special place and even expand on these qualities. The Fred Field Center should remain where it is. We as a community can help shape our town’s future so that traffic congestion from an overly dense, car dependent, modular rental development doesn’t adversely affect our lives. We can build housing where it’s connected and walkable to shops and services, adding to what the county has built next to the rodeo grounds. Smart growth is possible, but we need to work together: Community, city, county and developer to make this a reality.
Dave Kozlowski
West Gunnison
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