We all either grew up in Castle Rock, or moved here for a vision of a certain quality of life. This is being eroded by the planning commission, the town administration, the chamber of commerce, and the town/county elected officials.

We all knew there was going to be growth in Castle Rock, because years ago it was rated the seventh best place to live in the country, but now it’s 26th according to Money magazine, and has dropped to sixth in the state. It’s even laughable to call this great community a town when our elected officials won’t regulate the growth, with the proper infrastructure.

The family attraction of Castle Rock has always been family events such as the Starlighting, the Movie at the park, the Oktoberfest, the concerts at the park, and the farmers market. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no parking for these events, and it’s getting consistently worse. Some downtown restaurants are being suffocated based on this lack of local parking.

Both directions of I-25 are constantly backed up, and this isn’t even taking into consideration that the town council approved growth for another 40 or 50 thousand new residents, which would be larger than Pueblo..

Developers are profit-driven, and have the right to develop land they bought from landowners. However, our governmental representatives have a responsibility to maintain our infrastructure, and the quality of life. It simply doesn’t matter how many new businesses a city has if the commute, and the parking, are impeding this quality of life.

Dave Martin

Castle Rock