Thank you, Montezuma County commissioners, for your article, “Keeping Montezuma County clean begins with each one of us” (Guest Columns, Journal, Nov. 19), expressing a sentiment that has long been dear to my heart: visual blight.
Individual responsibility in maintaining properties is, of course, essential to improving how our county looks. Thank you for providing opportunities for landowners to dispose of waste and report illegal dumping. We are fortunate to live in an area of deep history with stunning panoramas, nestled between mountains and deep canyons, and we all have the obligation to maintain its integrity for ourselves and for future generations.
Light, sound and air pollution also plague our county. Many landowners shine bright lights all night that affect their neighbors’ enjoyment of dark skies. This violates County Land Use Code 1201.2, #24, which states: “All direct rays confined to site and adjacent properties protected from glare.”
Vehicle owners also have the responsibility to reduce exhaust fumes, loud motors and faulty mufflers. The Western Slope does not require emission testing, but good neighbors should consider how their vehicles’ impact others. The county land-use code states that sound should not exceed 70 decibels at any time, and 55 at night. While nuisance standards refer to land use, many vehicles exceed these noise levels as they zip – often well over the speed limit – down county roads.
What to do? I, for one, would like to call upon county neighbors to become more neighborly: discard refuse properly; tune up your vehicles; replace faulty mufflers. I think we’ll find that kindness encourages kindness.
Diane McBride
Cortez
