High Rock saga highlights need for charter change
The history of High Rock Parcel is a multi-year saga; ultimately about the failure of our city’s current form of government. For over a year and a half, Citizens for High Rock (C4HR) opposed a standalone parking garage on the last, largest parcel of city-owned land. C4HR advocated for a mixed-use development project that would utilize the entire 2.77 acres of land.
This land has a long history, a decade earlier, in 2005 and 2007, requests for proposals (RFP)’s were sent out for High Rock parking lot. The city council at the time was asking developers to bring forward their plans and vision for this parcel. Many local prominent developers submitted excellent plans. Each plan unique and proposing it’s own vision and features. None of these plans were chosen. Why? Because our city council couldn’t agree on which to choose. So hundreds of hours of time, and thousands of dollars were spent, on plans for projects that would never be built.
In 2015 Mayor Yepsen again issued an RFP for the lot. The intent was to have a multi-use development, which would include parking for the City Center. Prior to the release of the RFP the council members were unable to come up with a unified vision for the lot that could be incorporated. Nevertheless, the city received two plans from successful developers for a mixed-use development. The problem that became apparent very quickly was that the city council was unable to act as a single decision making body to gather any sort of consensus. Once the city council received the proposals, interpretations of their validity and merit were based largely on very little in depth knowledge of the proposals and subjective observations. At the public presentations with the developers and their various assembled teams, the council members chose to just take pot shots at the proposals. It became clear that such a development and all that it entails was beyond what the city council could accomplish. If a city manager had been in place they could have acted as point person and provided expertise throughout the entire process. So without a city manager, the city council left behind the opportunity for two million dollars of expanded tax-base revenue.
Our commissioners often have a conflict of interest. They must vote on issues and proposals that may directly or indirectly affect their department, staff and budget. Of course in the most obvious of these situations they recuse themselves, but there are many instances in which this does not happen. Changing the government to eliminate this inherent bias is essential.
I hope as you go to vote in November, you will make a bold decision. Changing our form of government is a serious undertaking. Fear of the unknown is often enough to cause people to default to the status quo. However, our current form of government is highly unusual for a city with our complexity, assets and resources. I urge everyone who is on the fence and not sure about charter change, to go for it. A “yes” vote for the new charter is one that will open doors to new possibilities that have never been seen in this city before.
Julie Cuneo is the former chairperson for Citizens for High Rock