Letter: Deny midvalley development

We are troubled and saddened by the massive development proposed by Ace Lane’s Tree Farm application in the midvalley.

When one cannot currently get across any midvalley intersection without a light during the already gridlocked morning and afternoon commutes, what will become of this and many other telltale signs of dire overcrowding in the midvalley if 400 or more houses and multiple oversized commercial spaces are approved?

We beg the individuals who are proposing and voting on these projects to take a very careful look around at all the residential and commercial spaces that currently sit empty in the midvalley before they build more. Decisions to infill open spaces from Basalt to Carbondale in the short term are irreversible with crystal-clear detriments to our future generations.

If the Tree Farm and other developments are approved, where will the kids of 400 new households go to school in our already overcrowded classrooms? New schools cost a lot of money. And as we witness daily, there is no room left for the cars and construction traffic of a project this size to even join the overly congested main corridor of the valley.

Please, please deny the Tree Farm proposal in the name of careful long-term considerations of the open spaces that make our valley so unique and special.

Julie Goldstein and Tony O’Rourke

Basalt