Citizen Comment on Downtown Plan at P&D Meeting December 4

One of the last opportunities for citizen comment on the revised downtown plan will be tonight (December 4) at 7pm in Council Chambers at the Civic Center. It is important that citizens let their elected officials know their thoughts on the plan BEFORE it is approved by Council. There are several inconsistencies and undefined processes that make the passage of the plan in its current form a poor choice.

While the Plan Commission had a MAJORITY vote on the Fountain Square block to max out the height and density at 25 stories (consistent with the rest of the core), they sent a mixed message to the Council by marking the block as "to be determined". Additionally, the chair of the Plan Commission used citizen comment at Planning and Development on November 24th to contradict the recommendation of the Plan Commission on this block and recommend greater density for this block.

The transition areas defined in the plan are not consistent and in some cases call for greater density at the edges than is found immediately adjacent to them towards the core of the downtown.

The plan does not address a mechanism for citizen review of dense projects that are at or below the recommended base heights. If passed as written, a developer could build a 15 story building with little or no citizen input into how the building fits into the context of the area.

Please consider attending the meeting and letting your elected officials know what you think of the plan.