LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor: My wife Kathy and I recently attended a listening session at the Burro in Ridgway hosted by Ouray Commissioner Lynn Padgett. The place was packed with over 30 people in attendance and attendees did a great job voicing concerns on issues applying to Ouray County and also the city of Ouray and Ridgway.
One lady from Ridgway brought up the lack of enforcement regarding the dark sky regulations in Ridgway. She added that there was not much sense in passing regulations if you are not going to enforce them and there were a lot of folks voicing agreement to that comment. A person followed that up by saying that grass in Ridgway is regulated to be no more than 6 inches high before cutting. I followed that up by stating this is another case of the regulations not being enforced. There are significant areas in town both on town property and private land that need to be mowed or bushhogged for fire mitigation. I also cited that all mature trees on town property should be pruned to a height of 10 feet (and less for smaller trees).
In regard to the surrounding subdivisions in the county there is a real lack of “firewise” homes that are in real danger of wildfire as well as these homes no longer being insured from wildland fire.
I have been told by leaders in the town of Ridgway that a long standing policy is one that action will be taken when they get a series of complaints regarding a particular issue. With all due respect to the capable leaders of the town of Ridgway, I do not agree with that policy because it is reactive and not proactive!
Finally, my wife and I love living in Ridgway and we think the leadership in the town is great but I would like to believe management of the town can always be improved and timely enforcement of regulations would be a great step in improving our town. I think the solution to that issue is to hire a full-time person to enforce the above and other regulations the town has passed. I think everyone who attended the listening session, hosted by Lynn Padgett, appreciated her able hosting of this gathering and she announced with thundering applause that she has decided to run for another term!
Tom Heffernan Ridgway
