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
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