Daily Press Writer
MONTROSE — The development of a new mall along the banks of the Uncompahgre River has led to the formation of a group whose goal is to bolster protection of the river corridor.
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“This is a highly visible event for the Uncompahgre River corridor, and I think it shocked a lot of people,” said FOR member Kevin Davis.
Last month the start of construction work on the River Landing shopping center by Matt Miles led to the cutting of more than 300 trees and, some critics claim, damage to the river’s wetlands.
Although much of the property associated with the shopping center has gone through the city’s regulatory process, annexation proceedings on seven acres adjacent to the shopping center brought the issue before the Montrose City Council. Tonight, council will conduct its second reading on the annexation.
The city has negotiated an annexation agreement that prohibits the removal of any trees from the smaller parcel without its approval, but the current plans also call for the construction of a recreation path.
Tina Mayfield, another member of FOR, toured the site with staff from the city’s planning department. While she sees part of the group’s purpose as protecting the river from future development, she hopes the recreation path can be moved eastward away from the river.
She believes public involvement is necessary, not only for that task, but for urging council and Montrose County to adopt measures that would protect the river corridor from other development.
“It’s numbers that count,” she said.
Neither Davis nor Mayfield said the group had come up with specific provisions for an ordinance. Davis, however, hoped future protection of the corridor could strike a balance between enforcement and voluntary efforts from private landowners.
“We just want to ensure that this type of development and the associated destruction of the wetlands and the river habitat doesn’t continue,” he said.
Mayfield, who ran for city council last spring as a write-in candidate, said the group will continue to look into possible provisions for an ordinance and other means of protecting the corridor.
“We can complain all we want, but if we don’t offer a solution it just sounds like we’re a bunch of whiners and we want somebody else to do it,” she said.
The group will meet tonight at 6 p.m. at the Nepal Restaurant before heading over to the city council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m.
Contact Matt Hildner via e-mail at matth@montrosepress.com
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