RED ROCK RALLY TOMORROW

We have met with every commissioner and haven’t gotten any commitments either way, but it’s not looking good.  The DA’s office is asking them to settle.  But we aren’t giving up!  They need to know what they are doing to Red Rock and how many people valley wide and nation-wide it could affect if they allow this in Red Rock Canyon.  Jim Rhodes’ company has been lobbying hard.  We have been working hard, too, but we don’t have the funds he has.  His company, Gypsum Resources hired a Political Action Committee to do a different “Save Red Rock” petition that urges the County Commissioners to Approve a lawsuit settlement, which would remove the rural character protections from the top of the mountain in front of the visitor’s center (across 159) and give the property owner the right to apply for a major project and increased density/intensity.  In exchange, Gypsum will not take the county to court and they will not risk losing a million dollars in court fees.  We argue that it would cost the county much more than a million dollars in the long run to support the services and infrastructure that Gypsum would have to build to get a development up there.  They say that we risk losing 43,000 acres to development in Red Rock Canyon if it goes to court and is found unconstitutional.  When actually the only thing that would happen, is that only about 5000 acres (most of it owned by Gypsum) would be affected.  And the only affect they would have is that without the Red Rock Overlay, those acres would be left with the rural zoning restrictions they started out with anyway.  We believe that the community-driven 10 year effort to protect and defend the scenic and rural nature of Red Rock Canyon is worth defending.  It contains a year’s worth of county staff and citizens’ research and development about what is conducive to maintaining a rural and scenic environment.  Punching a hole in the middle of it changes everything.  If you would like to learn more about it, you can find it in the papers as well as seven years’ worth of history on this issue on the website www.saveredrock.com.