Mueller: Come Tuesday to Fields hearing
Letter to the editor
At the Dec. 20 Eagle County Board of Commissioners’ public hearing on the Fields development in El Jebel, it appeared that methodologies were manipulated in order to give the developer an advantage. This reeks of impropriety and favoritism.
One of the standards that must be met for a zone change is “adequate infrastructure.” Per the ECLUR Article 4-620.G, intersections in unincorporated Eagle County shall function at Level of Service (LOS) “D” or better. When LOS is calculated using the long-standing methodology, both nearby intersections fail this test.
Therefore, there is not adequate infrastructure to support the Fields development.
At the hearing, Eagle County staff attempted to justify why, after meeting with the developer, his department decided to change their long-standing methodology for determining LOS. Up until this point, LOS at intersections was calculated using a range of peak hours using the through lanes of traffic. The new methodology is to use a 24-hour period and all lanes.
Why, after years of calculating LOS using one standard methodology, did Eagle County Engineering decide suddenly to change their methodology?
The county attorney said the commissioners could make reasonable exceptions to the standards. The only reason proposed for this exception is that the developer wants more density, which results in 1,021 more cars trips per day at nearby intersections, including Highway 82 and El Jebel Road. This is not a valid reason.
Public comment on the Fields development will be taken by the commissioners Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the community building at Crown Mountain Park.
See something, say something.
Jen Mueller
Carbondale
