E Cutler’s Editorial Comments About the Preceding PC Mtg Recap:

Without making any judgments about the comments submitted by Springdale residents, it is absolutely clear that those comments should have been addressed. No matter how grateful I am for the Planning Commission’s time and dedication, this level of dismissiveness toward public input is intolerable.

Additionally, the Commission was instructed by staff to consider whether the proposed medical clinic (and the Post Office, new Town Hall, etc.) were appropriate uses within the Public Use zoning. They clearly are. Staff should also have directed the Commission to consider whether there is an actual need for those uses—which is far from obvious—before approving a zone change. Whether this omission was a staff oversight or an assumption that Commissioners would already know to evaluate need, I cannot say. What I do know is that a decision was made with only half the necessary analysis, and the most critical half wasn’t even acknowledged. Had the Commissioners fully understood and respected the public’s comments, they would have addressed that point as a matter of course.

I wish I didn’t care so much about things like this. Or maybe I wish TC and PC cared more???