While reading Tom DeHudy’s insightful, discerning guest column in The Durango Herald on July 9, I could not but help reflect on the Roberts Resorts proposal for 300+ RV spaces to be turned slowly into constantly occupied park model cabins.
DeHudy said: “According to insurance industry research spacing structures closer than 12 feet favors fire. Gaps of 50 feet or more between homes are advisable.” That Roberts and the planning department would think 300 sites squeezed together is a good idea for the Animas Valley, (scene of the Missionary Ridge, 415 and other fires), defies comprehension. Note, these cabins cannot be moved without advance planning, special hauling vehicles and a special highway permit.
However, RVs by any definition are dwellings intended to house humans. Having 300 of them closely packed in a fire-risk area is trouble. Again, quoting from the guest column and from Roy Wright, chief executive from the Insurance Institute, “Conflagration happens when you get that proximity.”
Also, imagining that many RVs trying to escape at one time onto very small county roads already clogged by surrounding neighborhoods is frightening.
This is only one of the many negative impacts of the proposed Roberts Resorts project. I surely hope that the planning department, the planning board and the La Plata County commissioners will decide that this proposal is unfit and a disaster for the Animas Valley.
Connie Durand
Durango
