No to Rifle tiny homes

A Miami based corporation, Eco Dwelling LLC, comes to Rifle, gets lawyered up, purchases four parcels of land, proceeds to build a manufacturing facility just outside of downtown, and stocks it with building materials. Ready to begin building what they hope to be 200 identical tiny footprint steel buildings with no garage in dense communities. Essentially glorified mobiles.

Then Eco comes to the City Council and tells them “Rifle needs this.” On the other hand, our city attorney said, “This will be a ton of density in a different way than we have seen.” 

Garfield County needs affordable housing. So does our entire state. But please ask yourselves, are we going to approach expansion in an intelligent, well thought out manner, and will we maintain our community culture and character with this type of housing?

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These no frill units will have no closets to store clothing, coats, shoes, etc. The in-house custom cabinets are made of laminated fiberboard. The front yard is a cement slab for parking. Our mayor called these units mobile homes without wheels.

Eco’s original intent to have their first phase be owner-occupied was retracted. Investors will likely buy tracts of these units and lease them out for whatever the market will bear. The 123 units proposed for West 16th Street alone will add heavy traffic, all spilling onto an already congested Railroad Avenue.

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Is this what Rifle needs? You decide.

Mary Bridges, Rifle

GarCo commissioners stuck in the past

Perhaps it’s what we should expect from an all-septuagenarian board of county commissioners, but the Garfield County commissioners seem incapable of getting their arms around the fact fossil fuels are yesterday’s energy source.

The cabal of senior citizens have written a letter of opposition to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to a petition submitted by Wild Earth Guardians of New Mexico, 350 Colorado, and the Sierra Club of Colorado calling for the commission to adopt rules for evaluating and addressing the “cumulative air impacts” of oil and gas operations.

“This is just another case where we see individuals and organizations who want to kill oil and gas development in the county, the state, and the entire world,” said commissioner Mike Samson, “This is another example of people trying to destroy things we need for a high quality of life.”

We’ve heard this before, Mike. In 2018, Proposition 112 called for a 2,500-foot setback for all oil and gas operations from inhabited buildings. Backed by $40 million in television advertising, the industry shot the ballot measure down saying such a regulation would chase oil and gas production out of the state.

Just a year later, the State Legislature passed Senate Bill 19-181 which called for a 2,000-foot setback. That extra 500 feet must make a lot of difference because the oil and gas extraction industry in Colorado is still around pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and making the climate crisis worse.

As for Samson’s “high quality of life,” how high will that quality be when the planet is too hot to be viable? It’s hard to look ahead when you’re staring in the rear-view mirror, but our commissioners had better take a peek down the road and protect our children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

Fred Malo Jr., Carbondale

Scouting for Food results

Thank you New Castle for your generous support of our food drive once again. Our boys and girls that are a part of the Cub Scouts Pack 221 and Troup 221 that put this on every November are really grateful for your support, as is our local food bank, Lift-Up.  

This year you donated 6,440.9 pounds of food. Our cumulative total for the past 13 years is now at 109,000 pounds. We’ve done that with a population of about 4,000 to recently 5,000 people. 

Obviously, not everyone is capable of giving, and that’s what this is all about. I’ve tried to imagine what that total really looks like but don’t know where to start. God Bless you all for a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas.

John Harcourt, New Castle

Carbondale seniors thanks

Due to Alpine Bank’s generosity and Ramona and Phil’s cooking talent, the residents at Crystal Meadows enjoyed a wonderful meal, laughter and a great sense of community on Thanksgiving Day. 

Thank you, Alpine Bank, for being there for all of us in the community and especially for making it a special day at Crystal Meadows. Ramona and Phil, thank you for cooking the delicious food and making them feel like family.

Jerilyn Nieslanik, Carbondale

Thanks Glenwood PD

My mountain bike was recently stolen. I filed a police report the evening we noticed it missing. The next morning an officer arrived at my residence with my bike! 

I understand that a stolen bike is low priority with the job our officers take on each day, which shows the excellence in their service.

Among the many responsibilities, with keeping the community safe to protecting our highways, I would like to say, “Thank You!” to the Glenwood Springs Police Department and to all of the men and women in our law enforcement!

Adam Taylor, Glenwood Springs