September 27th, 2006
Get involved in Property Rights in Kersey and Kiowa
From Rob Dougherty - Pueblo County
There are two meetings this week. The first is Wednesday. Sept. 27 at
6PM in the Platte Valley High School Cafeteria at
901 Campbell in Kersey, CO (east of Greeley.) The other is on Thursday,
Sept. 28 from 7-9PM at the Exhibition Hall of
the Fairgrounds in Kiowa, CO.
If you haven’t sent a “Not For Sale” letter to Jim Woodward yet please
do so. At the meeting Friday in Pueblo about 35
people signed letters representing more than 4,000 acres of land. I’ve
marked those on the map and we’ve almost achieved
the first total block of the corridor by owners who won’t sell. The
area west of Calhan in El Paso County is also
filling in. But we want to show more than blocked areas; we want to
show how many people are not willing to sell their
land for the toll road. Ask your relatives and neighbors in the
corridor to sign one. You can get the parcel numbers
from the letters sent out by the toll road company or look them up on
Stupidslab. Contact Jim Woodward or me if you need
assistance. The forms and directions are at
www.stupidslab.com/NotForSale.htm .
At the meeting last Wednesday in Galeton there were 300 + in
attendance. A pretty good crowd for a small farming
community. Many in attendance own property outside the corridor.
Sharon Croghan spoke on the history of Super Slab and
opposition, Bill Thomas on the physical aspects of a toll road, Rick
Brown discussed how we can use the legislation and
other means to stop the Super Slab and Mike Coan described how each
person could get involved to protect their property.
Weld County Commissioner Dave Long attended and spoke about the need
for commissioners to take a neutral stand on the
Super Slab, but at this point,the Super Slab is not a project they see
as viable. He discussed the meeting they had with
Ken Smith, Prairie Falcon’s spokesman, at which he mirrored
Commissioner Madsen’s account of the meeting. Smith brought
no real information about the project to the meeting with the
commissioners; PFPE has done no traffic studies, no
feasibility studies and in Commissioner Long’s opinion, have not
studied the route through Weld County very well. He
pointed out, with a nice map, which showed the corridor cutting through
prime irrigated farm land and an alternate route
only a few miles east, missing all the irrigated land, many county
roads and had half the number of property owners.
When asked why PFPE choose the route they did, reportedly their
response was this route gave them the grade they need
for the rail road. The route 5 miles further east, according to Weld
County engineers, has the exact same grade as the
current proposed route. Commissioner Long also said he believes the
PFPE route to be a moving target. “The corridor is
not set in stone and could be moved at any time, people on either side
of the 3 mile corridor should remain concerned”
explained Long.
Also in attendance was Scott Renfroe, candidate for Dist. 13 and Duane
Leise, candidate for Weld County Commissioner at
large. Neither spoke, but stayed around to answers questions after the
meeting. Both candidates have offered support for
our cause and encouraged corridor residents to stay organized and work
together.
Last Friday in Pueblo 100 people attended the meeting at County High.
Participants were Joe Pantaleo of Eastern Plains
Citizens Coalition of Pueblo, Robert and Gaye Thomasson of the High
Plains Coalition for Responsible Transportation
Policy and retired attorney Rick Brown, also of HPCRTP. They explained
the history of the Front Range Toll Road Company,
legislation passed in 2006 and what we should do to be ready for the
Super Slab’s future moves. The story from the
Chieftain is included below.
www.chieftain.com/metro/1158991200/3
‘Toll road warriors’: Just say no
By MARGIE WOOD
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Three “toll road warriors” from Elbert County came to Pueblo Friday to
tell a crowd of about 100 people that they can
stop a proposed toll road from taking their land - if they just say no.
The Front Range Toll Road Co., now calling its project the Prairie
Falcon Express Parkway, sent letters to thousands of
Coloradans in seven counties in the last month, notifying them that
they are within a three-mile corridor where the road
may be built.
Gay and Robert Thomasson, retired teachers, and Rick Brown, a retired
lawyer, said the notices worried property owners.
“Ray Wells (the road developer) would like you to think it’s a done
deal,” Mrs. Thomasson said. “But it’s not a done
deal. Stay informed and whatever you do, don’t roll over. You can’t
walk away from it. If you turn your back, it will
happen.”
Robert Thomasson reviewed the recent history of the proposal and the
three laws passed in the Legislature this year to
put modern-day controls on a toll road builder. Most importantly, a
developer would have to meet the standards - and win
the approval - of the state transportation department in order to
obtain the state’s eminent domain power to acquire
property.
“If we use the tools we were given this year, this road will never be
built,” he said.
Brown explained that the road proposal would have to go through seven
regional transportation planning agencies and the
state commission, but even before that, the company would have to
complete an environmental impact study on the 210-mile
route.
“None of you can be forced to sell your land to the Super Slab,” Brown
said. “They could begin purchasing land
voluntarily if they had any money, but they don’t.”
He added that Wells has said he wants to include a railway and utility
corridors along with the highway, and that he
owns a rail line called the Flat Penny Railroad. Railroads do have
eminent domain powers in Colorado.
But Brown said, “If you’ve got a kid who has a toy railroad, he has
more of a railroad than Ray Wells has. Flat Penny is
a pretend railroad - it has no track, no rolling stock, just some
minutes of board meetings.”
He belittled the business model and prospects for success of the plan,
saying the Ports to Plains highway project
farther to the east makes far more sense.
“Can these developers be trusted to build the road and operate it in a
minimally competent manner?” Brown asked. “Based
on their dealings so far, we think not.”
The speakers urged landowners to sign a form letter to CDOT saying
their land is not for sale. Rob Dougherty of
Avondale, who operates the stupidslab.com Web site, is preparing a map
of parcels that aren’t for sale, and similar
efforts are under way in the other affected counties.
If a large number of owners stand up against the toll road, it will
make it harder for the developer to get investors
interested in the project.
Mrs. Thomasson added, “Contact your county commissioners and your
legislators, and let them know how you feel. Find out
how candidates in the elections stand on these issues. Get your
neighbors involved.”
Finally, she said, the toll road proponents will be advertising public
meetings, “and you should go to those meetings
and tell them how you feel.”
