[Vision2020] Council items & Large Scale Retail

Art Deco deco at moscow.com
Mon Jun 20 18:14:08 PDT 2005


John, Bill, et al,

Bill raises an important point.  One of the fundamental purposes of comp 
plans/zoning ordinances is to protect in a fair and legitimate way the 
assets of those already living/working/enterprising here and who are not in 
violation of those zoning ordinances.  The healthiest economic communities 
are those with a positive not a negative overall cash in-flow/circular flow.

As part of the big box store discussion, it might be very important to 
address the long range question of what the downtown business district 
should look like -- what should be encouraged and what should be 
discouraged.

As someone who lived in Moscow 1958 -1962, 1967 - 1969, and have lived now 
in this area since 1990, I can say that the vivacity and health of Moscow's 
downtown business area has greatly deteriorated.  Some of the causes for 
this can be addressed by a carefully constructed comp plan and zoning 
ordinance plus some auxiliary ordinances and other efforts, other causes 
cannot.

Is the City of Moscow willing to help revitalize the downtown area, and, if 
so, how much effort/money/gutsy decision making/etc. are they willing to put 
into that effort?

This discussion of this matter is very complex, raises hot issues, and 
presumes that most politicians will act for the greater community good.  It 
has been my observation that this last item is happening less and less in 
many communities and, unfortunately, in Moscow.

Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID  83843

(208) 882-7975
waf at moscow.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Moore" <bmoore at fsr.com>
To: "'Steven Basoa'" <sbasoa at moscow.com>; "'John Dickinson'" 
<johnd at moscow.com>
Cc: "'Vision2020'" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 11:53 AM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Council items & Large Scale Retail


> Steven, John and Visionaries,
>
> As long as we're on the topic of Large Scale Retail Development,
> I wonder if anyone besides me sees a similarity between
> items 1.(H) Clearwire Wireless Communications Co-Location
> Agreements and Item 9. Large Scale Retail Development
> Regulations?
> (http://www.moscow.id.us/cityclerk/councilagenda.pdf)
>
>>From my (admittedly prejudiced) point of view, Craig McCaw's
> Clearwire is the Walmart/Home Depot of wireless ISPs.  I
> believe retail competition is healthy for business and good
> for the community.  However, if the argument against Big Box
> development is that redirecting community dollars out of the
> community is bad, then doesn't a similar argument exist against
> granting Clearwire access to community  property?  Dollars spent
> locally stay in the community, pay taxes and potentially circulate
> multiple times.
>
> Where and how does one draw the line?
>
> Bill Moore
> bmoore at fsr.com
> Director of Technology
> First Step Internet
> 1420 South Blaine St
> Moscow, ID   83843
> www.fsr.net
> (208) 882-8869 ext. 465
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] 
> On Behalf Of Steven Basoa
> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 9:53 AM
> To: John Dickinson
> Cc: 'Vision2020'
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Council items
>
> I was hoping that there would be more response to the "Large Scale
> Retail Development Regulations and Permit Process" subject.  These big
> boxes will have a definite impact on our town, possibly more negative
> than positive.  I think there should definitely be separate development
> standards for large stores and, yes, we should have some sort of stop
> gap measure in place until these standards are developed.  Perhaps a
> temporary moratorium on large scale development could be put in place so
> that the city council doesn't make hasty decisons that could negatively
> impact the town and it's citizens.  The turmoil in Pullman over the
> super Walmart should serve as a warning sign to all that this is a
> situation that needs to be carefully assessed and dealt with.
> Personally, I do not want the Pullman and Troy Highways to look like
> Spokane's Division and Sprague streets or Lewiston's 21st street.
>
> Thanks for bringing this matter to our attention and asking for input.
>
> -Steven
>
>
> John Dickinson wrote:
>> Visionaries-
>>
>> Here are a couple of items on Monday?s council agenda that I?d like some
>> comments on.
>>
>> 9.   Large Scale Retail Development Regulations and Permit Process ?
>> Joel Plaskon
>>
>> Because of the possibility of large scale retail developments for
>> Moscow, discussions have begun regarding development standards and
>> process requirements regulating large scale retail developments.  The
>> Moscow Zoning Code currently does not contain maximum floor area ratio
>> (FAR) requirements, lot coverage requirements, or maximum building
>> square footage limits.  With the national trend toward large retail
>> warehouse-type stores and in light of Moscow?s growth and economic
>> climate, it is probable that Moscow will see such a development proposal
>> in the future.  These types of developments, because of their large
>> scale, have traffic, economic, and visual impacts which may be deserving
>> of their own development criteria.
>>
>>
>>
>> There are two questions that I?d ask everyone ? 1) should there be
>> separate development standards for stores above a certain size, and 2)
>> if development standards are a good idea they may take a while to
>> create, so as a stop gap measure should we modify our current process so
>> that a public hearing is required for every application for a building
>> above a certain size (one way to do this would be to require a
>> conditional use permit for larger buildings)?
>>
>> John Dickinson
>> Moscow City Council
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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