Condos or no condos that is the question, not in my neighborhood that is the knee jerk reaction. What is the harm, they have the rights, our rules allow it, and that is the justification.
What effect is it having?
Politically it is a many sided coin , the citizens say enough is enough, the rest of the world looking in mocking you, and the developers keep pounding nails. Read the comprehensive plan from cover to cover, study every zoning ordinance, marketing plan, political speech, or projection for Estes Park from the last twenty years and you will not find an outline that projected Estes Park to become a retirement community and a middle class second home Mecca. That was never the plan. Was the master plan to become the oldest community in Colorado, our streets lined with wall to wall condos, the laughing stock of resorts? Show us that document. Twenty years ago was the consensus “wow what a great plan, take us there.” Not hardly, we were saying then what we are saying now, we need winter business, we have traffic problems, we need more parking for the down town businesses, we need better land use policy. You said these things thirty years ago, you said it twenty years ago and you are saying it today.
Estes Park has no industry, just summer visitors. Our kids grow up, go off to college, and never come back. The school system looses students every year as we continue to age as a community. The question being, where is our master plan taking us? There was no plan to arrive where we currently find ourselves, so where are we going? Who would get on a bus not knowing where it’s headed?
Here is the big question, do you as a citizen control your community or do town employees and contractors control the politics? Who or what is influencing the politics that override the desires of the citizens? That is a fair question.
Any contractor can buy a piece of property, throw in second home condos and leave town. The rules allow it. Families moving in, not hardly. These condos are investments seldom used, the values go up - the equity realized - the property turned over and the profits are banked in Huston, Omaha, Memphis, Dallas or Ames. Your one community asset is location and the profits are being harvested by investors from around the country. The equity is not being reinvested back into Estes Park, it leaves. You are paying for all this. How you ask? Besides the grossly escalating property values (families can no longer afford to live here), the cost of running our community is going up.
Estes Park Water Users May See Rate Hike
Why the hike in water rates? Simply put, the Town administrator intends to double the capacity of the treatment plant and he wants us to pay for it. Currently the treatment capacity is two million gallons per day and the town administrator wants four million gallons per day. Where is double the demand? Let me guess,,, projected condo development perhaps? If that is the case, then why aren’t the developers required to pay for this? The increased water rates require us to pay for the demand created by condo development.
We told you so!
The Town Electric Utility is charging you more and more every year for your electricity.
Why? Because we supply service to all the extended rural users (vacation second homes) and the efficiency drops of taps per mile are made up by the urban consumer.
Water rates are going up so we can provide water treatment capacity for condo development.
Town Hall wants more fees for fire and police protection for empty condos three quarters of the year.
Condo developers are not required to install adequate roads, sidewalks, they do not pay their way concerning infrastructure, the capacities of your sewer lines, sewer treatment and drinking water supplies. The condo owners do not contribute to the local economic condition, they do not vote. Our ordinances are structured such that these condos are never to be used as full time domiciles; they amount to expensive motel rooms. They will not be running water to pay for the treatment capacity, but you will. At least we should require that the developer pay his own way. Why isn’t that happening, why does the town administrator allow the citizens of this community to carry the burden for condo development? Who is he working for?
A hearing will be held concerning this projected rate increase October 9th 2007 at seven PM in the town board room. A formality to be sure, this is an administrative function and they will hear you and implement the rate hike.
Town trustees and the town administrator are always telling you how well the Estes Park economy is doing, they are spending less money every year then they have budgeted and the excess funds are being put into the Community Reinvestment Fund – then why are they charging us more money for services?
What effect is it having?
Politically it is a many sided coin , the citizens say enough is enough, the rest of the world looking in mocking you, and the developers keep pounding nails. Read the comprehensive plan from cover to cover, study every zoning ordinance, marketing plan, political speech, or projection for Estes Park from the last twenty years and you will not find an outline that projected Estes Park to become a retirement community and a middle class second home Mecca. That was never the plan. Was the master plan to become the oldest community in Colorado, our streets lined with wall to wall condos, the laughing stock of resorts? Show us that document. Twenty years ago was the consensus “wow what a great plan, take us there.” Not hardly, we were saying then what we are saying now, we need winter business, we have traffic problems, we need more parking for the down town businesses, we need better land use policy. You said these things thirty years ago, you said it twenty years ago and you are saying it today.
Estes Park has no industry, just summer visitors. Our kids grow up, go off to college, and never come back. The school system looses students every year as we continue to age as a community. The question being, where is our master plan taking us? There was no plan to arrive where we currently find ourselves, so where are we going? Who would get on a bus not knowing where it’s headed?
Here is the big question, do you as a citizen control your community or do town employees and contractors control the politics? Who or what is influencing the politics that override the desires of the citizens? That is a fair question.
Any contractor can buy a piece of property, throw in second home condos and leave town. The rules allow it. Families moving in, not hardly. These condos are investments seldom used, the values go up - the equity realized - the property turned over and the profits are banked in Huston, Omaha, Memphis, Dallas or Ames. Your one community asset is location and the profits are being harvested by investors from around the country. The equity is not being reinvested back into Estes Park, it leaves. You are paying for all this. How you ask? Besides the grossly escalating property values (families can no longer afford to live here), the cost of running our community is going up.
Estes Park Water Users May See Rate Hike
Why the hike in water rates? Simply put, the Town administrator intends to double the capacity of the treatment plant and he wants us to pay for it. Currently the treatment capacity is two million gallons per day and the town administrator wants four million gallons per day. Where is double the demand? Let me guess,,, projected condo development perhaps? If that is the case, then why aren’t the developers required to pay for this? The increased water rates require us to pay for the demand created by condo development.
We told you so!
The Town Electric Utility is charging you more and more every year for your electricity.
Why? Because we supply service to all the extended rural users (vacation second homes) and the efficiency drops of taps per mile are made up by the urban consumer.
Water rates are going up so we can provide water treatment capacity for condo development.
Town Hall wants more fees for fire and police protection for empty condos three quarters of the year.
Condo developers are not required to install adequate roads, sidewalks, they do not pay their way concerning infrastructure, the capacities of your sewer lines, sewer treatment and drinking water supplies. The condo owners do not contribute to the local economic condition, they do not vote. Our ordinances are structured such that these condos are never to be used as full time domiciles; they amount to expensive motel rooms. They will not be running water to pay for the treatment capacity, but you will. At least we should require that the developer pay his own way. Why isn’t that happening, why does the town administrator allow the citizens of this community to carry the burden for condo development? Who is he working for?
A hearing will be held concerning this projected rate increase October 9th 2007 at seven PM in the town board room. A formality to be sure, this is an administrative function and they will hear you and implement the rate hike.
Town trustees and the town administrator are always telling you how well the Estes Park economy is doing, they are spending less money every year then they have budgeted and the excess funds are being put into the Community Reinvestment Fund – then why are they charging us more money for services?
