November 21, 2006 Beyond the Minutes
Beyond The Minutes – After-the-fact details on the agendas of council meetings, clarifications of what we were really doing, and my thinking behind votes.
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Archive for November, 2006
Riverfront Development
The city has received an offer on our property on River Road. At the November 7 meeting, Tim Sparks offered us $720,000 for 8.46 acres of riverfront property built up by dredge spoils. This property is, I believe, adjacent to the other condos being developed on the water, and is the property we previously designated for soccer fields.
As the Daily News reported, the Council wants to make sure that we maximize the value for the citizens, and has asked the city manager to obtain some estimates of the value of the property. Mr. Sparks based his offer on non-waterfront property across the street from ours. Obviously, waterfront should be more valuable. However, Mr. Sparks has also included a provision for the soccer club in his offer. He offered to purchase other property for their fields as part of the transaction. The paper reports he would donate it to the club; it seems to me it ought to really be a donation to the city instead, since we own the property the club would be using now. Either way, we should come out of the deal with an alternate soccer site.
I also want the property to be a benefit to the whole community. I think the best way is to generate some cash from the sale, and then to have a public waterfront walkway along the developed property. I mentioned this request to Mr. Sparks at the council meeting, and he seemed agreeable to including a paved path with benches along the water. I plan to do what I can to ensure that a public path is part of anyone’s plans, prior to selling them the property. Ideally, it would even join in with the dike path that currently runs from North Kelso to River Road.
What’s your thought on this? Send it in!
November 7, 2006 Beyond the Minutes
Beyond The Minutes – After-the-fact details on the agendas of council meetings, clarifications of what we were really doing, and my thinking behind votes.
Ward System Passes
From the preliminary returns tonight, it looks like the charter change implementing a ward system for electing councilmembers will pass easily. I hope that limiting the geographic range of a council seats doesn’t hurt the pool of prospective councilmembers, and that the citizens will now be more apt to contact their representative when an issue arises.
Budget Update
The council met today to review the preliminary budget for 2007. Some highlights:
- 3.5% salary increases
- balanced with a $51,000 transfer from reserves (out of a total $6.7M general fund budget)
- one additional employee was restored to the library
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Here We Go!
The new Talking Kelso blog was featured in the Daily News today, and we’re already seeing great comments from visitors as a result of the publicity. Keep it up!
