Common sense and development

Editor: Petaluma’s Planning Department gone? Where is common sense? Has it disappeared completely? True, we can’t afford a planning department if there is no development to support it. No fees, no revenue.

We can’t blame this all on our present economy. Have we welcomed development? No! As the saying goes, “what you don’t use, you lose.” Have we learned our lesson yet?

• Approximately five years ago, Regency wanted to build a shopping center at the Kenilworth site. What has the city done to help make that a reality?

• Approximately three years ago when Skip Sommer and partners wanted to renovate the old silk mill, what did the city do to help make that a reality?

• What about the West El Rose dental office project that received all the roadblocks and has cost the owner a lot of extra money?

You can always pick a project to death, especially if you really don’t want the project built in the first place. The mayor says, “It’s an unfortunate sign of the times.” Councilmember Rabbitt agrees, but say’s “Petaluma’s problem is worsened by politics that are unfavorable to developers.” I agree with Councilman Rabbitt. If we had allowed Regency to build years ago, providing jobs for our community and receiving revenue from the tax base, we might be in a little better position now. If you don’t move forward when the opportunity presents itself, you miss out and stagnate. As another saying goes, if you don’t change, you die. Currently it appears we are dying from the lack of growth.

Our town is extremely diversified and includes all income levels. Vice Mayor Barrett stated at the April 6 council meeting that she likes Healdsburg and Sonoma, because of their little shops, etc. At the April 13 meeting, she said “We have to balance our budget at the end of the year and it’s going to come out of someone’s hide.” We can not survive on just our little boutique and antique shops. We need balance to survive and thrive. We must provide shopping and job opportunities for our community. Petaluma touts itself as a tourist destination and that’s fine, but we need to think of what our local residents need and want, and where they have to shop. We all know that a good amount of our shopping is done out of town, at Target, Costco, JoAnn’s and Beverly’s, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Friedman’s as well as Macy’s and Nordstroms. This practice will continue unless the City Council changes its attitude.

If developers are willing and able to build, we should encourage, not put roadblocks in place. We need to think of the benefits to our city. Target may not be for everyone, but it evidently is for a large portion of our population. As Councilman Rabbitt stated at the April 6 council meeting, “Not everyone is going to be satisfied, but the Fiscal and Economic Impact Assessment report is completed showing satisfactory benefits and we need to move April 9, “Perhaps an outright ban on all large-format retail stores should be in order, at least that would be more honest.” However, I don’t think that will be necessary, because if we don’t move forward and remove these roadblocks, the developers will boycott Petaluma. I’m sure our reputation is well known in the development community.

Judy Hillery, Petaluma