Controlled Growth-The Answer

To say that a commercial business should never come into our area is an irresponsible answer to intelligent, well-planned growth for any community. I am not suggesting that we start building a Wal-Mart tomorrow. The first step would be to expand Baptist Road to four lanes. This should be done regardles of whether more commercial business comes into the area or not. The fact is we need four lanes on Baptist Road due to several hundred new homes being built in the area and the traffic resulting from that.Who needs congestion and traffic jams? Traffic congestion can be greatly reduced with foresight and preparation.

I do believe that eventually Wal-Mart would be a great addition to our community. My point is very simple; it makes a lot more sense to drive 1-2 miles instead of 10-12 miles to get to Wal-Mart or any other store on the north end. Before moving to the Fox Run area we lived two blocks behind the Chapel Hills Mall. It was great to drive one mile to the several stores that I regularly used instead of having to drive eight miles or more to get there. Our many neighbors enjoyed the convenience of having Best Buy, Office Depot, etc., close by. This doesn't even take into consideration the time value. I would certainly rather spend an extra 20 minutes with my family than spending it on the road. It also costs an average of .50 cents per mile to drive a car these days, so if we drive another 20 miles round trip, that's an extra $10.00 added to our driving expenses.The more miles we drive, the more air pollution we create along the front range.

I would also like to address the argument that this new commercial business would draw more people from outlying areas into the community and create more traffic. The only people we would be likely to draw would be from the Monument area. It is a very short distance from I-25 to the proposed Wal-mart site. Just because this would mean an increase in traffic for this very short distance does not mean the store should never be built, but rather that we need to expand the roadways in this area to accommodate a heavier volume of traffic successfully.

Growth is inevitable. People in increased numbers are moving into the area and will continue to do so. Let's meet the needs of our community with well planned, controlled growth, that enhances it rather than stifle development and cripple our community. The bottom line is to work at solving the problems associated with growth and development, not trying to stop or deny it.

By Milt Calhoun

Watch the first step its a doozy

While I completely disagree that a Super Walmart would be a great addition to the community, I do agree the first step in any inevitable development needs to address improvements to Baptist Road. Even without the Wal-Mart, the additional traffic from Jackson Creek and beyond has made Baptist crowded.
That first step, however, is the part that Monument or El Paso county do not want to address. It appears to me that Monument would like to build the Wal-Mart for the taxes money it will bring the city, but they will not take the responsibility to enhance the local infrastructure. If Wal-Mart was asking to build on 105 or the city proper, it would not even be considered by Monument city council. Oh, but lets put it on a road that we don't have to maintain, yet still get the tax money. Thats just the ticket! El Paso county has no incentive to widen Baptist since Monument will get most of the benefit. Tax the locals for everyone elses benefit? That is not an acceptable solution.
Of course Baptist Road is not the only infrastructure issue. The I-25 interchange is a total joke and can barely handle the current traffic in its current configuration. How will it handle possible 8,000 more cars a day? I doubt the state has the Baptist interchange too high on their priority list right now.
I also disagree with the idea that most of the additional people will be from Monument. There is still substantial building and population in the Black Forest area that quite possibly use the north Wal-Mart. How will they get to the new Wal-Mart? How about the people in our own area? All of them will travel on Baptist. The others will come in via the under-developed interchange.
Yes, growth may be inevitable but until the needed infrastructure is COMPLETED (not just "promised") the addition of a regional business should not be considered. If the city of Monument wants the tax money that goes with these types of retail operations, let them take the responsibility of upgrading the facilities needed to support them first. The prospect of sitting in Wal-Mart created traffic to get to where I want to go is not worth the priviledge of some people only having to drive 1-2 miles to be able to get to a Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart (or any other big box regional retailer) is allowed to proceed before necessary improvements are made to Baptist Road and the interchange, local residents will all suffer for years to come.

By Michael Malboeuf

Watmart Traffic Volume

>Milt Calhoun, Resultsyes@aol.com

Milt, You are misinformed about increased traffic volume to a new walmart. To think only Monument residents would travel to this walmart is incorrect.

Please review studies at
http://www.CoalitionTLC.org/wal-mart.htm

The traffic study estimates that 34% of these trips would be by passers-by, that is, by people who are on their way to
another destination via Baptist. An experienced traffic engineer we consulted feels that since Wal*Mart is considered a "destination store", 20 to 25% is a more realistic factor.

For comparison, the traffic study shows 9,500 trips per day as the current load on Baptist Road. If this Wal*Mart proposal is approved, traffic would more than double to over 20,000 trips per day.

Also, to think a Walmart so close is a good thing is a personal issue. Personally I built a house in Fox Run to NOT be anywhere near a walmart. I travel to CS every day for work and can easily drop by Walmart at CH on the way home and NOT live near such a traffic problem as we WILL have on Baptist Rd.



By Richard Massey