The First 60 Days
New City Council Initiates Change in Direction
By Kim Lefner
New City Council Initiates Change in Direction
By Kim Lefner
Supported by two unprecedented back-to-back referendums, the council majority of Mayor Derek Reeve, Mayor Pro Tem Pam Patterson, Councilmembers Kerry Ferguson and Roy Byrnes began their new term by reversing the previous council’s approval of two massive development projects. Critics said the developments would add too much traffic to already congested streets, and strain on limited resources such as water.
Here are just a few of the actions taken by the council in the first 60 days:
Laguna Glen / Spieker Development – The proposed “retirement village” consisted of more than 400 housing units and a medical facility with approximately 100 beds in over 725,000 square feet of buildings. The project was proposed on 30+ acres of the “Vermeulen Ranch” property where Armstrong Nursery’s growing grounds are currently located. It required a re-zone from “commercial agribusiness” to “specific plan” to allow for the high-density residential/institutional development which included a mix of one, two and three-story buildings.
In September 2014 the council majority of Sam Allevato, Larry Kramer and John Taylor voted to re-zone the Vermeulen property over community outcry about the impacts from such massive development in the middle of town. Their vote galvanized residents who quickly collected nearly twice the required number of signatures for a referendum that allowed the new council majority to overturn the previous council’s decision in a 4-1 vote, with Sam Allevato opposed.