At the Evansville Common Council on Monday night was a remarkable dialogue among the council and also the finance staff about the current state of growth in Evansville, and what it might portend for next year's budget.
Alderman Bill Hammann led the discussion by mentioning that since June 2005 Smart Growth Plan some people had requested "impact statements" due to inappropriate fear of unplanned development. That fear has been "inaccurate".
Alderman Mason Braunschweig replied that with all due respect, much of the discussion was regarding impact on the school district. The Observer remembered a speech school board President Michael Pierick had given to all Evansville council members about the fact that the current "smart" growth plan completely blows the capacity of the school district, and the plan does not address the impact of this to taxpayers.
Alderman Fred Juergens then added that the "growth" at the present time was very low. Jennifer Petruzello added that the building permits have dropped 60%. Some mention was made of the biodiesel plant, but Jennifer Petruzello cautioned that this was a long term investment and was in the new TIF district, so it would not be a factor in budgeting for the city in the near term. Thus, department heads would have to be very mindful of the changes for next budget year. Next year could be a challenging budget cycle.
Maybe you missed the meeting. Would you like to listen in to this dialogue? Click on the audioblogger icon.
The magic number is still 8 1/2. Keep in training. It will be 8 1/2 years till the next developer can propose a new development in Evansville under the Smart Growth Plan. All of the decade plan is filled. The remaining spots are ZERO. Make a note of it. When you blitz through a decade plan in three months, is one "inaccurate" to be concerned? Stay tuned.
For the record. The Observer was silent during this discussion.
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Not sure that "fear" is the accurate word there.
ReplyDeleteJust because the market has gone soft doesn't mean that the city would have been well served by going bat-crap crazy.
We have a plan to stick to. This is not the time to throw it overboard.