Russ
Greg Moberly, a Union Reporter, writes the Council's Walgreens decision in limbo
A plan to build a controversial Walgreens in Glenbrook Basin remains on hold after the Grass Valley City Council narrowly rejected one appeal but held off deciding on another.
But these were the paragraphs in Greg's report that started me wondering about "the strategy."
The council held off on a second appeal by land-use planner Steve Enos of the Planning Commission's approval of the Walgreens - this time citing objections to its design and whether it was pedestrian friendly enough.
At the urging of Johnson, the Council agreed to form a subcommittee to review the design and consider options such as making it more pedestrian friendly. Johnson and Arbuckle will sit on the subcommittee and are expected to report back to the Council on April 8.
Back in the mid 90s when I was first appointed to the Transportation Commission, we were discussing the traffic impact from a future development. During a lull in the meeting, one of the City Councilmen from Nevada City leaned over and whispered, "the strategy is to delay the project." Let me paraphrase what he went on to say. The local political strategy is to delay and delay some more, until the developers runs out of money and just goes away. If you just tell them no, they can file a lawsuit.
It seems to me this whole Walgreens decision has gone on long enough. I hope the delay, delay, and delay some more strategy is not the one being used by the Grass Valley City Council. How will we ever know if the design is "pedestrian friendly" enough, that is such a subjective term. If Walgreens has met the established Grass Valley design standards -- approve the application! I am sick and tired of looking at that run down closed dealership. It does not say much about a community that let an eyesore like that remain standing for years and years.
