[Vision2020] Just Say "NO" to Jobs and Businesses In Moscow

[Donovan Arnold]

I am in full agreement with MCA on this. I am tired of  businesses  coming into Moscow and creating jobs, raising wages, and providing  opportunities for the people here.
  
 This 16 page regulatory  document will send a clear message to businesses like Home Depot,  Wal-Mart, Schweitzer, Micron, and other institutions that provide wages  to the residents in the area that we don't want them here.
  
  Establishing 16 pages of  new and "special" laws and regulations  for some business that provide a high number of jobs, we will assure  victory over the people that want jobs and to pay less property taxes.  Whitman County is where these business people will have to give their  taxes and create jobs.
  
 YEAH MCA! I am with you. Stop business  from coming here to Moscow and Latah, we already have enough good  paying jobs at least $5.15 an hour. 
  
  Best,
  
  _DJA
  
  PS, I hope you know I was being sarcastic, there is always one in the crowd. 

Bill London <london at moscow.com> wrote:                Dear County Commissioners Kimmell, Nelson and   Stroschein:
   
  The Moscow Civic   Association (“MCA”) is in favor of Latah County   adopting Moscow’s Large Scale Retail Ordinance (“LSRO”)   for the Area of City Impact.
    
  The  LSRO was written by a team of community members with the goal of  mitigating negative impacts that retail outlets 40,000 square feet or  larger (“Big Box Stores”) would likely bring to our growing community.    Retail  outlets of this size are cropping up all over the country with a  variety of consequences involving traffic, noise, storm water,  aesthetics, etc.  Communities across the  country are recognizing the need to pass ordinances to eliminate or  mitigate the adverse impacts of Big Box Stores.  For this   reason, the MCA supported the city’s efforts to mitigate these problems by   adopting the LSRO.    
   
  Planning and zoning are   reasonable and desirable activities of local governing bodies.  We  do not endorse the view that ordinances placing reasonable requirements  on businesses represent an assault on the free market or discourage  beneficial development.  We believe that the  LSRO regulates development wisely, in a community-friendly and  beneficial manner that protects the property rights of developers,  adjacent landowners and the surrounding community.  We wish to encourage   this type of development.
   
  We  believe it is not only justifiable but necessary in our role as  responsible citizens and as community participants placing reasonable  requirements on retail establishments larger than 40,000 square feet.  To  mitigate the adverse spillover effects that come with great size is an  absolutely appropriate protection of the property rights of the  surrounding landowners and community.  We  believe that the LSRO does that adequately by defining large scale  retail outlets as conditional uses in the Motor Business zoning  district and by placing specific requirements on such establishments to  address the following areas of concern:
   
  Site   location
  Noise
  City Services and City   infrastructure impacts
  Storm water   quality
  Traffic   Impacts
  Building   abandonment
   
  We agree with the   requirements provided by the LSRO.
   
  As  stated in the first five and a half pages of the sixteen page document,  there are many reasons to adopt such an ordinance.  We  would like to draw your attention to the following paragraph of the  ordinance (p. 5), which highlights the beneficial purpose of the LSRO  in protecting the property rights of the nearby property owners and the  community itself:
   
  Whereas,   the City is currently without design review regulations or any   discretionary
  review   and public hearing process specific to retail establishments in excess of   forty
  thousand   (40,000) square feet which preserve    and/or enhance the general appearance
  of   building design and construction; preserve the historical character and   significance of
  the   community; coordinate onsite vehicular and non-vehicular traffic circulation   patterns 
  within   adjacent transportation systems; minimize visual impact; provide for and   protect
  existing   light, air, solar access, and orientation, privacy, views, and vistas by the   proper
  and   efficient location of building sites and design layout; provide adequate usable   open
  space   in a manner appropriate to the development and uses of lands, and protect   and
  preserve   wildlife, stream, natural topography and other desirable natural features   and
  qualities   such as skyline, ridge tops, knoll ridges, established trees and shrub   masses,
  topsoil,   streambeds and banks, drainage swales; promote aesthetic harmonizing   with
  the   environment adjacent to development; enable requirements for traffic   studies,
  market   studies, and impact studies; and enable imposition of mitigation   measures;
   
  Without  the LSRO in place, the citizens of our community have no protection  from the adverse spillover effects that unregulated large retail  establishments will bring to nearby neighborhoods, to the detriment of  residents’ property values and quality of life.  This  threat is something we can mitigate through the LSRO while preserving  economic opportunity, enhancing property values and quality of life,  and protecting and balancing developer’s property rights with those of  the impacted neighbors and community.  
   
  We   hope you will take these comments to heart and pass the LSRO for the Area of   City Impact.  Please protect and   preserve the quality of life for Latah County.
   
  Sincerely,   
   
  Bruce   Livingston
  President,   Moscow Civic   Association 
  On   Behalf of the Moscow Civic Association Board of   Directors

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