Z-09-05 Ordinance Amending the Code of Ordinances of New Albany, Indiana, Title XV, Chapter 156, (Docket P-02-09; Fairway Developers d/b/a The Charleston’s LLC, by Gary McCartin). Gahan 2&3
Gahan proposes it for the 2nd reading only, although he reserves the right to change his mind.
Zurschmiede: Voted against previous ones. Each time he applied his own personal "sitting in my deck chair" standard to the project. Each time it didn't fly. KZ built a home for his own dad right there on Lafayette, but his dad lives in Florida next to low income housing. KZ lives downtown. He's never had an issue with White Castle in his backyard. As real estate broker, he vigorously defends abandoned restaurant properties as part of the game we all play. What's going to happen to the remainder of the property. Plan Commission has the final word.
NOTE: Messer absent. 5-4 against last time. If benedetti recuses as she should ... otherwise, this is destined to be tied tonight. If it is, it doesn;t pass, right? So ... Gahan could call for the third reading tonight.
Price: "Some times to get knowledge, you have to ask questions." No dog in this hunt, but he produces a drainage map. Mutters about EPA problems. The development area is the second most important drainage target area. Folksy babbling. Upholds the drainage problems in the area. Says it is a major fix, requiring much money. Stevie has big problems with basement water.
Disjointed? You need to be here to understand how disjointed Price can be when required to string thoughts together.
After considering the drainage issues ... "facts" ... he has a big problem with the proposal. Major runoff problem already, and will get much worse.
Gahan: People here, he can vouch for their reasonableness. They keep being required to come here. 12 votes in 19 months on the plot. Many supported the original funeral home idea. No calls about the hospital, either.
How did Coffey vote on that one?
Big difference between a restaurant and a hospital or funeral home. "Isn't necessarily a development at all ... a rezoning fast track ... to accommodate speculators." We should not continue to put them through this.
Coffey: Plan Commission sets the timetable, we don't.
Roll call, 2nd reading:
Yes
Caesar
Benedetti
Zurschmiede
Coffey
No
Price
McLaughlin
Gahan
Gonder
Gahan: Messer gone, but we know how he would vote, so we'll throw it out for a 4-4 vote that will KILL IT.
All I can say: Power move on the part of Gahan. Absolutely. He makes this entirely about the people who "bought those homes."
Gonder: Echoes Gahan. The fight is fought on uneven ground when the citizens have to defend so often. Developers "trying to make a buck." Not a "valuable addition" to the commerce of the city. Should raise an issue about incentives for developers to redevelop and not develop green space?
THAT's MY MAN!
Price: A "lesson for New Albany." We haven't protected our infrastructure. Money goes to salaries and not stuff! We need to be good stewards.
Coffey: I hope that you remember this when they come i my area and TAKE homes.
Roll call, 3rd reading.
Yes
Caesar
Benedetti
Zurschmiede
Coffey
No
Price
McLaughlin
Gahan
Gonder
Tie again ... defeated.
Glad to hear it. All I needed was another fast food joint in the exurbs. This traffic sucks, I am moving downtown. : )
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know you had a blog, Roger.
ReplyDeleteRoger has a blog?
ReplyDeleteNAC staff does most the work.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to give Price credit, he asked for information and an education on drainage and I was only too glad to provide it to him. That map he held up was the conceptual master plan we, the former stormwater board with FMSM and the internationally known water quality expert storm board engineer appointee Al Goodman conceived based on real flow data and over several years of residential call in complaints as well as hydrological modeling that is scientifically sound and Price was absolutely correct , that high density development has made that area of new albany a chronic drainage problem which eventually creates a city wide issue due to its flow pattern and the dendritic drainage basin we have in this city.
ReplyDeleteYou may not like price Roger but give the man credit when he seks to understand the issues.
EW, you simply had to be there to understand how incoherent the presentation was. Mr. Price may well understand some aspects of what you taught him, but if his intention were to point out how creating new impermeable spaces upstream is a hazard, he failed to do so.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, his failure to tie his "facts" into his "reasons" probably did more harm than good.
It is completely within his purview to invite you to assist him at council to convey the message he cannot. Watching his demonstration was akin to watching a fish swim in a stream - scattered, murky, and unpredictable.
It would take an incisive, educated mind to discern what he was trying to accomplish. For the vast majority of listeners, it was embarrassing. If Mr. Price was, in fact, trying to argue in favor of my views on the particular issue, I want a re-do.
Mr. Price needs to articulate his rationale. Were he able to do so, I think the netizens of this blog would treat him with more respect, whether they agree or disagree.
In short, Mr. Price is horrible at sound bites...and he's loath to engage in extended back and forth in more relaxed settings. And even when, after a 30-minute discussion in which he seems to agree with a consensus opinion, something atavistic kicks in and he reverts to "NO."
That's his political schtick, the one he has chosen. Even his defenders shouldn't squawk when someone points that out. It's his chosen path and one he's proud of. So it's hardly unfair to shine the spotlight on it.
Mrs. McCartin-Benedetti has chosen as her schtick an anti-downtown meme. She's proud of that.
I’m sure the “This Is Your Brian on Drugs” egg was well meaning but I don’t want that egg as a councilman.
ReplyDelete