Still more farmers market ... Cortez, that is

'Twas a pleasant gathering in the courthouse parking lot Saturday morning, with Marilyn Kroeker from Mancos playing music and folks shopping, drinking coffee and visiting. Some of the folks in the foreground in the second picture are from McElmo Canyon, at the west edge of the county. Bessie's stand, distant right beyond others, was already sold out of baked goods; she's from NW of Cortez. The Cortez Farmers Market has really become a place where folks from all around the county encounter each other on Saturday mornings. Hidden just beyond the front group is a candidate for county commissioner, handing out his campaign cards.

Should be an interesting campaign; lots more interest than usual. We've got some Republicans running against each other, so one of the two incumbents running for re-election will have to get through his primary first. Then we've got a Democrat and two Independents running, so the general election won't be a shoo-in. Actually, the way it sorts out, we have two district commissioner seats open, and the candidates have to reside in the districts they run to represent, but everyone in all three districts gets to vote on the final outcome. Crazy! In any case, the hidden candidate above, Democrat Fred Blackburn, will joust with Larrie Rule, if Larrie gets past the primary for the Cortez District seat. Mancos Republican incumbent Gerald Koppenhafer has a little breather, till he faces the two Independents in the general election.

The central issue, I think, will be zoning and land-use planning. We've got a half-baked system in which every landowner self-zones their property, frequently as agricultural to pay the lowest taxes. Then there's a structure of standards of use that apply, depending on the zoning category. If you want to do something on your property (rock concert, asphalt plant) that would exceed those standards, you're supposed to go in for review by the planning commission and approval by the county commissioners of a high impact permit, if you don't decide to just go ahead and do what you want to do and hope somebody doesn't complain and hold your feet to the fire, as happened with a gravel pit and asphalt plant operation last summer.

Basically, the county commissioners can permit any activity anywhere, which totally undermines the concept of zoning. Two of their zoning decisions were overturned last year by appellate courts for exactly that reason. Now, the county commissioners are proposing a change to the land use code that would permit them to do what they've been doing anyway, and with one less public hearing (they've been at war with the planning commission, and this would undercut the planning commission role and the public's opportunity for input).

Their public hearing on the new language is at 2 p.m. tomorrow, after which they may well vote it up or down. I'd love to have the popcorn concession for that hearing! We're going to try to go, try to get there early enough to get an end seat where I can stretch my leg out.

Off to meeting this morning and then to the Bauer Lake Club picnic this afternoon, at least for a while.

Lots of smoke in the air right now, probably from the California fires, overlying the increasing level of ambient crud that's always in our air. TV