I want to thank Cortez City Council members for their strong well-reasoned arguments against rezoning and for voting 7-0 not to rezone the property at 1050 Lebanon Road to industrial.

You had to manage a group of concerned residents and an unhappy applicant, and I understand that you did what you had to do. I apologize for any hard feelings that came out of the struggle, but it illustrated how dedicated neighbors and Carpenter Natural Area fans are to this cause. We will be watching to see if the process is started again, with a renewed application to Planning and Zoning for a conditional-use permit on the commercial property.

Thank you, also, for looking into the future and realizing the negative ramifications of allowing commercial zones to be rezoned to industrial for the benefit of one business. It would truly be difficult to deny the same thing to another business in the future, if that had been allowed. You did the right thing.

As the city code is being revised, I urge the Council to put in place something to the effect that industrial will not be zoned next to parks or residents in the future anywhere in town, and there should always be a reasonable buffer – perhaps a mile or a half-mile at the least.

Teri Paul

Cortez