[Vision2020] Parking Downtown Moscow

[Bruce and Jean Livingston]

Jeff,

I have to disagree with you strongly here.

Mr. Beebe's development was NOT targeted for special circumstances; Beebe
was SEEKING special circumstances.  Beebe's proposed development is another
example of a developer expecting concessions from the community to lessen
the costs for a developer and increase his private profit at public expense.
Beebe's land is not part of the downtown block in the City zoning map.  It
is industrially zoned land adjacent to the downtown core.  He bought it as
industrial land.  His justified expectations for the use of this land are as
industrial land.  Seeking to change it to Central Business district
designation in an effort to foist the parking needs of the project on the
nearby landowners is yet another example of a private individual seeking to
impose the costs of their private development upon others.

Micro-planning is a nicely turned phrase, but it is not what is going on
here.  We have a plan.  It is the zoning code, adopted by the citizenry and
the basis for the community's investment decisions.  Changing the zoning
code to allow another category has an effect upon the private property
rights of the neighbors of the landowner who seeks the change.  Mr. Beebe is
seeking special treatment by trying to annex himself into the one category
in town that does not require parking, and he is also seeking to impose
those parking costs on his neighbors and the community at large.

More Motor Business land exists near the Palouse Mall along A Street, where
motor business developments are best suited, given the need to place them as
close to Pullman as possible if we are to continue to draw Pullmanites to
Moscow for shopping. The highway ought to go on the west side of town along
the University of Idaho, if we are to have a bypass, so the residents of
Genessee and Potlatch who are commuting to the universities may take the
most direct route, rather than funneling them all east of Moscow, even
though many are going to Pullman.  Lowe's ought to seek land in the City of
Moscow along the A Street corridor, where such zoning exists and the water
right is clear, rather than locating in Whitman County, foisting the rescue
and fire costs on Moscow, and attempting to craft a water right that is
probably not obtainable.

Who is suggesting that we not create any more industrial land?  I haven't
seen that.  What you are suggesting in your seeming support of Beebe's
re-zone request is the DECREASE in industrial land.  This re-designation of
land to other uses from its zoned or planned designation as industrial and
motor business land is a typical, short-sighted, developer-pushed project to
maximize short-term profits notwithstanding the existing plan.  The foolish
development of A street as apartments under the prior councils, contrary to
the Comprehensive Plan's designation of that land as motor business is
another example. We need light manufacturing and the jobs that come with it,
and industrially zoned land is the place for it.  Redevelopment of the
current industrial land is a good thing, but if we are to consider taking
valuable and scarce industrial land off the City's rolls at Beebe's request,
we ought to consider increasing the industrial land elsewhere, while not
giving Mr. Beebe a pass on the parking demands of his proposal.

All of these things require macro planning, not micro-planning, something
the City has foregone for years by engaging in spot zoning at any
developer's request for many years.  It is time to get ahead of the curve.
Engage the community in the process and get support for a proposal before
seeking special treatment at the expense of the citizenry.

Bruce Livingston



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Harkins" <jeffh at moscow.com>
To: "Bill London" <london at moscow.com>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Parking Downtown Moscow


> BL
>
> It appears that Beebe's development was targeted for special 
> circumstances - he was asked to resolve an issue that was not being 
> imposed on others in the downtown block.  That is the thing about 
> entrepreneurs - they get to make a decision about whether the rewards are 
> worth the risks.  Beebe would be advised to place his investment dollars 
> where the rewards compensate him for the risks he would be encountering.
>
> These "micro-planned agendas" (no WalMart, no Lowe's, no corridor 
> development, no highway reroute, no subdivisions, no additional motor 
> business, no additional industrial zones, living wages ...) destroy the 
> "investment climate".  Micro planned economies don't work - growth and 
> development can't be regulated at the micro level.  Planning initiatives 
> can be used to create a tapestry of desires about where folks will work, 
> will shop, will live.  When those initiatives get strapped with regulation 
> to force those initiatives, the freedom of choice becomes fettered - and 
> the free-enterprise, entrepreneurial spark is extinquished.  It really is 
> that simple Bill.
>
>
> At 10:04 AM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
>>N-
>>I just do not get it.
>>Why did Beebe pull his development when asked about off-street parking?
>>what is the big deal?
>>Off-street parking places are regularly included within urban 
>>developments.
>>P&Z was right to bring it up.
>>Why would a developer quit in a huff over that issue?
>>BL
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Nils Peterson" <nils_peterson at wsu.edu>
>>To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>>Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 6:32 AM
>>Subject: [Vision2020] Parking Downtown Moscow
>>
>>
>> > A couple weeks ago or so, Rick Beebe pulled a rezone application for 
>> > the
>> > south end of downtown -- the issue that came to a head in P&Z was 
>> > related
>>to
>> > parking. Shortly after Murph wrote an editorial along the lines that we
>> > can'd use parking as a weapon to bludgeon would-be development 
>> > downtown.
>> >
>> > But I just lost a few hours sleep over the issue (blame hot weather for
>> > sleeping with the windows open and listening to the Jake brakes on 
>> > trucks
>> > coming in from Troy.)
>> >
>> > Lets take parking as a serious issue. Lets take the abandoned (or
>> > abandoning) area along the railroads as a real issue, and think about
>> > NewCities recommendation to grow inward (ie the railroad lands).
>> >
>> > How can we think about parking, and about the changes in that area of
>> > downtown? How can they help one another? How are they not connected?
>> >
>> >
>> > =====================================================
>> >  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> >  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>> >                http://www.fsr.net
>> >           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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>> >
>>
>>=====================================================
>>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>                http://www.fsr.net
>>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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>
>
> =====================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet, serving the 
> communities of the Palouse since 1994.   http://www.fsr.net 
> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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