Continuation of "When Was The Last Time You Attended a City Council Meeting?"

Why attend the City Council meetings? Is it worth spending 3 hours of your Tuesday evening, twice a month?

Well, consider this….The overall General Plan is being up-dated over the next year or two.  That means all zoning, open space considerations, all facets of our infrastructure, the types of businesses that can and cannot move into Belmont  and/or where they can be operational, etc. These new decisions will be in place for another 20 years or so.

The “Villages” may end up having a greater impact than the High Speed Rail.  As I understand the numbers, the “Villages” are projected to add an additional 399 residential units.  Add to that number a comparable amount being discussed by our Regional bureaucrats and we are expected to add approximately 800 units…. all by 2017.

Will businesses and or residents suffer by way of eminent domain?  What will that do to our traffic, schools, and infrastructure?  How high is too high?  Three stories, 4 stories, 5 stories? Will there be enough water?  Should we hold on to our, perhaps, out dated density figures that prevent sound developers from being able to have a project that will “Pencil Out?”

On the flip side, what will $40,000,000 to $60,000,000+ per year in spendable income do for our restaurants, dry cleaners, florists, gas stations, all the service type organizations, grocery stores,  nail salons, specialty shops, chiropractors, doctors, and dentists? How much will city revenues increase without raising taxes or without significant changes in the economy?  To be continued.