The Chaffee County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Aug 7 to consider opening 6 new county roads to OHV use.
(public notice available here)
The roads are CR 187 past Castle Rock Gulch & Bassam Park to Park Co.
and CR 185 from Aspen Ridge to CR 175. (map here)
Also CR 267, 295 and 296 near St. Elmo and a segment of CR 292 west of Alpine. (map here)
Although they are not planning to open all roads,opening these 6 roads will have major negative impacts on Chaffee County.
The majority of those who spoke at public input meetings regarding these roads in February and at the Public Hearings July 7 were opposed to opening any more roads.
Buena Vista, Salida, the residents of Alpine, and numerous organizations were opposed to opening these roads.
Read the motion made by Commissioner Holman to open all roads that failed to be approved by clicking here.
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Things you can do/Action to take:
1) Please try to attend an August 7 Commissioner meeting in Salida at 10 am and comment against opening these roads.
2) If you can not attend a meeting, please voice your concerns to the commissioners about this via email, mail or phone.
Email: Send to all
dgiese@chaffeecounty.org, fholman@chaffeecounty.org, dpotts@chaffeecounty.org, jdavis@chaffeecounty.org, dreimer@chaffeecounty.org, jnelson@chaffeecounty.org, bchristianse@chaffeecounty.org, pbaldwin@chaffeecounty.org, ppalmer@chaffeesheriff.org
Phone:
Frank Holman Chairman Commissioner Dist.#2 719-539-2218
Dennis Giese Commissioner District #1 719-539-2218
Dave Potts Commissioner District #3 719-539-2218
Jenny Davis County Attorney 719-530-5564
Don Reimer County Development Director 719.530.5566
Joe Nelson Road and Bridge 719-539-4591
Robert Christiansen Director of Administration 719.539.2218
Patty Baldwin County Commissioner Admin. Asst. 719-539-2218
Pete Palmer County Sheriff 719-539-2596
US mail:
Chaffee County Commissioners
POB 699
Salida, CO 81201
3) Please spread the word about this issue and these meetings.
With your friends and neighbors
Address of this page to share: http://www.quietuse.org/County-Road-OHV
4) Please contact us for more details and continue to check this page for updates.
info@quietuse.org 719-207-4130
OHV users frequently do not obey all the rules and regulations regarding OHV use. The high impact nature of this use means that only a few irresponsible OHV riders can cause serious negative impacts to adjacent public and private landscapes. OHV use is not an appropriate activity in all places, and this proposal has the potential to change the very nature of Chaffee County.
The County has not done an adequate job of educating OHV riders about where they can and can not go on Chaffee County roads, and what the rules are regarding OHV use on the few county roads that they are allowed on. Click HERE to view a .pdf file with recent photos of continued illegal and unauthorized OHV use on Chaffee County roads.
An extensive list of why Chaffee County Roads are generally inappropriate for OHV use is available here
Specific reasons why roads are inappropriate for opening to OHV use are available by clicking the road # below.
CR 185 CR 187 CR 295
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History
Click HERE to view a summary of the history of this process. This page includes county memos, staff summaries of the public input meetings, and other information that helps explain why all county roads are being considered for opening to OHVs.
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Criteria
Criteria are needed to more objectively decide if a road should be opened for OHV use or if it remains closed.
The Commissioners developed a very limited and short list of 6 criteria they might consider when deciding whether or not to open a road to OHV use. They decided to not use these criteria when motioning on 7/10 to open more roads.
Thus the public does not know exactly why they are proposing to open some roads and not others.
View the list by clicking here. This criteria list is extremely limited in that it does not fully consider public input from local citizens. The list does not consider the negative impacts of OHV noise, dust, exhaust, and a propensity for off road travel and the negative impact these have on residents, other road users, wildlife, and the adjacent environment.
For a more complete and comprehensive list of criteria that should be considered when possibly opening a road to OHV use, click here
County staff have developed their own list of 8 criteria on this issue. It is available in the Staff Summary available here