Letting a legal loophole slip through even after it’s pointed out. When the long-gestating Forest City zoning change went through in February, councillors Craig Kelley and Minka vanBeuzekom pointed out that one of the developer’s five options for providing affordable housing could result in less of the stuff than was hoped. Since it was one of the key reasons the zoning took nearly 10 months and two tries to get through, they suggested putting off a vote by a week or so to ensure the language was smoothed out.
Other councillors, led by state representative and thus lame duck councillor Marjorie Decker, rejected that there was a loophole, didn’t seem to understand it anyway, ridiculed Kelley and vanBeuzekom for their fears and wound up voting the zoning through with the loophole in place.
Two days after the vote, councillor David Maher wrote the developer seeking reassurance that Forest City wouldn’t take advantage of the “ambiguity” – marking at least the second time a problem has been shoved in councillors’ faces and ignored, and less than a year after learning they would have done well to listen to Marquardt’s concerns about the CRA board.
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A stronger
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Excellent article. I hope voters consider all these issues in November.