{"id":264,"date":"2023-10-12T20:48:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T02:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koto.local\/norwood-talks-land-use\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T16:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T23:37:16","slug":"norwood-talks-land-use","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/koto.org\/es\/news\/norwood-talks-land-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Norwood Talks Land Use"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Over 80 San Miguel County Residents stopped by for the land use open house.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Drivers traveling west on 145 across Wrights Mesa and into Norwood are greeted at the edge of town with a homespun billboard hanging on a fence \u2014 it pictures a goat and huge block text reading \u201cWrong Mesa Solar.\u201d The billboard has stood there all summer and is a response to the Wrights Mesa Solar Project \u2014 a 600 acre solar development proposed by OneEnergy Renewables on Lone Cone Road just outside of Norwood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When the project was introduced at a public meeting in mid-May, community members turned out in droves to voice their opposition to the project. The level of concern was so intense that San Miguel County issued a 6 month moratorium on all new commercial scale utility applications \u2014 including solar ones \u2014 in order to update its land use code. <\/p>\n

That passed on May 24, recalls County Planning Director Kaye Simonson<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put the moratorium into place. We\u2019re not going to be done in time for that moratorium but we can extend it. It will be up to the Board of County Commissioners obviously to do that, but we do expect to extend it because we won\u2019t have [the revisions] ready in time,<\/em>\u201d explains Simonson. <\/p>\n

I spoke with Simonson at a county open house held this week at the Lone Library in Norwood to gather public input on possible land use code edits. The room was filled with infographics and maps, as well as invitations for public comment to be written on sticky notes and placed around the room. <\/p>\n

Turnout was high for the two hour open house, and feels Simonson: <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have some very \u2014 they\u2019re very passionate about it. And they have a lot of ideas and a lot of thoughts and we\u2019re trying to get them all put together<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the land use code updates are county-wide, east to west end, and not only focused on solar, but also other utility development, mining, logging, natural resources, and so forth \u2014 conversation centers around the Wrights Solar Development. <\/p>\n

Charmaine Toomey remains shocked by the plan brought forth by OneEnergy Renewables<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m for solar, especially on individual homes and barns. As far as giant complexes in neighborhoods? Where they\u2019re cutting down trees, ruining the habitat, ruining our water? It\u2019s just not right to put a complex, an industrial complex, in a neighborhood,<\/em>\u201d Toomey says. <\/p>\n

The Land Use Code currently has no specific regulations around commercial scale solar development, and Terry Lammers \u2014 whose family ranch is located on Lone Cone Road \u2014 says the county must prepare. <\/p>\n

Federal and state renewable energy goals will make large-solar projects a common occurrence. Reacting to OneEnergy Renewables\u2019 Proposal Lammers says \u201cI think we\u2019re just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendy Brooks is a resident of Telluride, but has family land in Norwood. She opposes the Wrights Mesa Solar Project, and feels the issue has a specific East County \u2014 West County divide. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people in Norwood are suspicious that somehow it\u2019s going to happen to them because all the county powers are in Telluride,<\/em>\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Brooks draws my attention to a map of San Miguel County hanging on the wall. It invites participants to put a sticker where they think solar development should go. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe most common place listed is the Vallely Floor of Telluride. I mean there are 27 out of 40 that are all on the Valley Floor,<\/em>\u201d says Brooks. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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A map asking workshop participants where they would like to see solar installed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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For Brooks, all those stickers on the Valley Floor \u2014 which is conserved piece of land and barred from solar development \u2014 points to a feeling amongst Norwood residents of a double standard, where Telluride\u2019s open spaces are considered precious and unassailable, while land on Norwood\u2019s Mesa is regarded as common, disposable. <\/p>\n

But for others, such as Ophir Resident Kim Wheels, the whole conversation was a disturbing illustration of how difficult the green energy transition will actually be. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have climate action plans: a regional CAP, a Telluride CAP, a Mountain Village CAP, Norwood is part of this, Ophir is part of this, all of our regions are. And yet putting feet to the ground, and what it actually looks like to implement it, is a complete flip. And difficult<\/em>,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

The county has pledged a 90% reduction in greenhouse gasses over 2010 levels by 2050. But, as Wheels points out, how those goals will be implemented and where the infrastructure will go remains an enormous question, especially as the county looks to renew the moratorium for another six months. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over 80 San Miguel County Residents stopped by for the land use open house. 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