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Public participation and council decisions

 

Public Input:

At our city council meeting last night (8/12/2021), we heard from a number of residents during our public comment period. We appreciate residents taking the time to attend the meetings. The more direct comments and opinions we can get from the public, the better.

Zoning and Densities

All the public comments last night were connected in some way to the city's current zoning definitions, including the densities allowed in each zone. With new property development applications on the horizon, residents wanted the city to address their concerns that our current density levels in our zoning are too high.

Debate and disagreement

In the later half of the meeting, the council debated what approach to use to address our zoning definitions and densities. As often is the case, all the members of the council didn't see eye-to-eye. All were determined to take some kind of action to address concerns, but there was disagreement on the action to take.

I appreciate the debate. I would be very worried if the council never had disagreements because I would worry that we weren't looking fairly at all possibilities and concerns. 

Shared goal

I'm not speaking definitively for the other members of the council, but to me, it seemed clear that each member of the council had the same end goal in mind: to make sure our code and ordinances and comprehensive plan were all in line with the desires of our residents for reasonable, appropriate growth.

To that end, we asked the mayor to form a temporary group, including members from P&Z and City Council and the city attorney to work on writing up necessary changes that can be presented to Planning and Zoning and then to City Council following a relatively quick timeline. Please be on the look out for opportunities for public input in this process. Thanks for your help!

(Painting by Norman Rockwell - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16925968) 

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