City P&Z last night...

By a 4 to 2 vote, the city P&Z Commission voted to approve the request made by the city to modify the land use of the city property on the south side of Interstate 40. The land use is currently for 'Parks/Open Space' and the Commissioners decision last night was the first step that will change the land use there to 'Regional Commercial'.

I want to thank the Commissioners for letting me speak before them to make a couple of points.

I spoke first when it was time for comments from the public. I did prepare for the content I wanted to cover and managed to get through my comments. Of course I've always found that I could have included more points. One thing that did not get touched on and think that is very important is the fact that this City land is being used as a dump by some in the community. No, not an official dumping ground but at the site there has been reports of trash and debris deliberately dumped there. It is a shame really because this fact certainly does not help the City at all. If the City wanted to clean up the dump site it is going to cost them some money, I also imagine that there could be health risks and liability issues which could end up costing the City even more if something tragic should happen out there.

The best course of action for the City in my opinion is to make the property as desirable as possible to a private interest and sell the asset for highest and best value. This would include supporting the construction project to build the interchange proposed in the area, changing the land use then changing the zoning for commercial retail, and developing arteriole access points through the City land south bound.

There is plenty of work still to do, but timing is important and I don't think we can afford any delays along the way. This includes convincing 5 of the 7 Council Members to approve the major general plan amendment that I spoke on last night. City Council will decide the land use change at their next meeting on May 7th. Support is needed so I hope you can lend a hand.