Why KARES is fighting to protect the Kanemoto Conservation easement from subdivision development

Why we're fighting to protect the KCE

1) It is an inherently perpetual conservation easement established in 1982 to preserve the rural character of the Colorado plains.

2) It abuts a Riparian (stream) corridor where wildlife migrates in search of food and friends.

3) It is designated as Nationally Significant Agricultural Land.

4) For its scenic beauty it has been placed in the Airport Road View Protection Corridor.

5) It is considered irreplaceable agricultural land.

6) The potential termination is a violation of local and state regulations.

7) Nature groups have expressed a concern that a developer can buy a conservation easement for $2.32 million dollars.

8) Eliminating our landed treasures is becoming an ominous precedent.

Why do we oppose a subdivision on the Kanemoto CE?

1) 426 housing units forced into a tiny 40-acre lot is a high-density mini-city.

2) Several years of heavy construction, bulldozers, backhoes, dump trucks, excessive noise, dust, road cones, and traffic diversions on Airport Road.

3) Nearest amenities are more than 1.5 miles away.

4) 426 housing units will generate 3,885 additional automobile trips each day onto Airport Rd.  The potential congestion will be overwhelming. View traffic report.

5) Local schools will suffer a significant increase in enrollment.  How will this be financed? Residents of Condos and apartments pay less school taxes or none at all. But as a homeowner, you will pay for the increased cost.

6) The 119 and Airport Rd intersection is the most accident-prone in Boulder County.

7) The city would not provide a clear answer as to whether the roads in the Clover Creek neighborhood will be torn up to install sewer lines and other utilities to service a new subdivision.

8) There are current unresolved legal challenges working their way through the courts.

9) A required Land Use Assessment by the County Natural Resource Planner appears to have been suppressed.

10) There has been significant disunity among County Commissioners concerning the direction of this potential termination.

11) The County Comprehensive Plan forbids Urban Sprawl and Strip Development.  Every new Board of Commissioners makes another small exception.  This is called Leap Frog development.  The County will eventually become a metroplex.

12) Why has the county diverted the termination issue to a need for affordable housing? Responsible officials do not destroy a landed treasure when there are multiple depressed areas in the city in need of revitalization (click here to learn more about Longmont’s Redevelopment and Revitalization plans). Why has the city and county ignored this vital need to redevelop these eyesores scattered throughout the city?  Because they were offered 2.32 million dollars for the CE (click here to email the Longmont City Council).

13) What is affordable housing?  The property is a short distance from the City of Boulder. The destiny of this development is to become a bedroom community for the City of Boulder.  Due to the university, nothing is affordable or ever will be in Boulder.