Opposition to Ascendigo proposal has nothing to do with autism
It’s unfortunate that despite virtually every letter from homeowners who oppose the Ascendigo development state they support and admire Ascendigo, that people who don’t live here or haven’t seen the specific location still want to make all 550 residents (so far) out to be discriminating against the disabled.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of us have disabilities ourselves and live up here in the quiet because of that; others have kids who are on the spectrum or have other disabilities, some have donated to Ascendigo. This is about land use and the lack of appropriateness of this large commercial-like, non-taxpaying operation that serves 70% of its clientele from out of the area and the intense impact it poses on this specific location.
There is a lot under the hood to analyze. Ascendigo’s application is filled with contradictions and estimates of impact that are simply flawed and untrue. This operation would use more water than the home subdivision, it would create more than double the traffic and would bring increased fire risk and evacuation challenges. Five-hundred and fifty residents (all walks of life) don’t all live in the nearby vicinity of this proposed development. So they would never see any of the clients. They are clearly reacting to the impacts this would cause now and into the future for the entire area, especially as this approval would open the door to many other commercial-like endeavors. There are indeed other nonresidential uses of land up here, in appropriate locations, off of a county road, but they don’t house 72 people overnight, they don’t generate 200-plus vehicles and use the intense water all at one time that would cause the aquifer not to recover.
And there are ranchers too, who are opposed. Read the comments on the Garfield Planning website and you will learn what this is really about. It has nothing to do with autism and all to do with land use. How many times do we need to say this?
Lori Brandon
Carbondale
