Dear Editor,

TV-12’s great service in re-running the Red Feather Ridge Jan. 05, 2003, City Council meeting leads one to question the logic of some of the participants. Apparently Mid-First Bank was able to unload their unmarketable investment by offering enough dubious goodies.

Two Councilors changed their minds from a prior meeting when they opposed the proposal and Attorney Lee Leavenworth withdrew it.

Traffic impacts which residents had studied, measured, and experienced were minimized by the traffic experts provided by Mid-First. The problem was a clear conflict of interest since one Mid-First expert provided a much lower impact estimate and the other Mid-First expert confirmed it. That conflict was ignored.

Another resident arrived late from a Garfield County meeting which had been discussing a proposed development further up Four Mile – Spring Ridge II. There already is a Spring Ridge I. Obviously those residential developments would further aggravate the real-life problems already occurring for existing residents. That obvious impact was ignored.

Regrettably, the city had extended a sewer line to the Red Feather area. Now everyone further up Four Mile will want to connect to it. The impact on the Glenwood Springs sewage treatment system will be a burden on future city residents long into the future. With inspection enforcement, leaks can be mitigated much more economically without burdening Glenwood Springs taxpayers.

Mayor Vanderhoof stated that approval of Red Feather Ridge gave us “control of sprawl. Without control we are going to have sprawl all the way up Four Mile.” He did not explain just how we are going to “control the sprawl which already exists in the Spring Ridge I and II projects.”

Lorenz T. “Marty” Martensen

Glenwood Springs