I read the John and Elizabeth Stevenson letter with interest. If it were about any other development I might have agreed with them, but it appears that they haven't even looked at the proposed Cove Springs proposal.
Cove Springs leaves approximately 90 percent of its land open both for continued farming and free range of wildlife, plus opens up trails for hiking. Any water uses will come from existing sources—no tapping of the aquifer is planned. How would that be a disaster to local farming or wildlife? It isn't. What would be a disaster is if they followed the patterns of so many existing developments and divided up the entire property into near equal housing lots. Then it would destroy wildlife habitat and all the rest. Instead, Cove Springs plans to cluster their housing and tuck it out of sight leaving the vast ranchlands and natural slopes as they are. Twenty percent of the housing is set aside as community housing to make sure people of mixed economic backgrounds can continue to live in Blaine County. Further, they will make substantial contributions to make sure wildlife and open space protections.
I think what the Stevensons are really saying is that they don't want any development at all. As a frequent visitor who is considering Cove Springs as an attractive place to relocate, I can only understand that to mean they don't want young families or retirees to move there—families and people who have a concern about protecting the environment and investing in the community, people who desire to be good neighbors, who will pay taxes, volunteer for various local causes, attend events, and start and/or support local businesses.
Is that the message the Blaine County community wants to send? I don't think so. I think what we all want is to protect the character of the community and region, support reasonable growth, and protect the environment. Cove Springs does that.
Naj Wikoff
Keen Valley, N.Y.
