Monday, August 31, 2015

City Council 25-Aug-2015: Town Center Overlay Changes Workshop

The council and planning commission met together for the first of several workshops to discuss what, if any, changes should be made to the Town Center overlay zone. The mayor, 4 members of the city council and 8 members of the planning commission were in attendance. One resident, Devirl Barfuss, attended the meeting.

The 1 hour meeting was facilitated by a well regarded city planning consultant. He asked a series of 5 questions. We were given colored post-it notes to write our responses to each question (in some cases we could only provide one response, in others two or three). The responses were put on the wall and organized into general themes. I thought it was an interesting exercise and the results will provide a foundation for future meetings.

Below are the questions that we asked and as many responses that were given as I can recall. Please feel free to share your thoughts by responding to the poll questions and/or by using the comment section (e.g. if you selected other and want to share what that was).

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

City Council 04-Aug-2015: Town Center Moratorium

2015-07-21 Town Center MapThe council chambers were full again (~55 residents). Many attended the meeting to see how the vote on the Town Center Moratorium ended up.


Soap box alert: I would like to share a personal frustration regarding much of the recent discussion regarding the town center. Now that another town home development is being considered (Blackstone)  I have consistently heard how terrible the Toscana town homes are for the city. The specific complaints include; the internal streets are too narrow and seem confining, parking, and people who walk their dogs and do clean up after them. Other than the narrow internal streets (which I’m not sure how the visual issue impacts anyone other than those living in Toscana) the other issues can be found all over town. Parking is a problem near churches, parks, when neighbors have receptions, homecomings … . Owners not cleaning up after their pets is a problem everywhere. Just ask my neighbors. I’m sure my dogs have left deposits in the neighborhood when they’ve escaped.