The Council voted Monday night to postpone a decision on a proposal by MJB Properties and hold a public hearing on the proposal by MJB Properties to rezone and make changes to the city’s Comprehensive Plan Map to allow for construction of a retail store as large as 100,000 square feet.
The Planning Commission had taken testimony last month and sent the matter to the Council with a recommendation that it be moved to the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. The Council has the option to take action with or without a public hearing.
A small group of residents was at Monday night’s Council meeting expecting to be able to testify, but City Attorney Brad Furlong told the Council that the Council had not advertised a public hearing, even though an asterisk on the published agenda hinted that testimony would be taken.
City Council member Cynthia Richardson wanted to defer the issue to the 2016 Comp Plan update, noting that the ten acres has been reserved for industrial use for decades. “It’s quite possible this is a good proposal, but it hasn’t been analyses and we don’t have any data to suggest what it’s going to do long-range to the health of our city.”
Richardson said the issue, “cries out for being part of a larger community discussion.”
Council member Eric Johnson suggested sending the matter back to the Planning Commission to hear testimony from MJB, who didn’t make a presentation at the Nov. 13 Planning Commission meeting. He suggested it would be a way to open the issue up to a broader public by putting on cable tv.
But, Council member Brian Geer said it didn’t make sense to him.
“Have them make the presentation to us,” responded Council member Ryan Walters. He urged the Council to have the presentation at Council and a public hearing.
The Council voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing sometime in the first quarter of next year on the MJB proposal.