Shopping Center Progress Delayed

Progress on approvals for the site plans for the new Target and Lowe’s stores at the Adams Dairy Landing shopping center were delayed for several weeks  as Mayor Ross’s appointments and reappointments to the Planning Commission did not receive a majority of votes from the council. Mayor Ross submitted all five appointments as a group, and would not permit the council to vote individually on each appointment.  Concerns were voiced regarding one of the appointees, which caused the council to split 3 to 3 on the vote.  The Mayor may not break a tie on appointments, so three positions of the eleven on the commission remained vacant.  The disagreement seemed to focus on the qualifications of the individual appointees however, when asked, no one was able to provide the specific qualifications necessary, or allow them to be discussed.

I, and many others I spoke with, was shocked to learn that Councilman Fowler told at least one Planning Commissioner to not attend commission meetings until the impasse was resolved.  Additionally, the two commissioners up for reappointment were absent, even though they were still officially on the commission.  The end result was two commission meetings without a quorum and an entire month’s delay on the site approvals for Target and Lowes.  Several other projects were delayed as well.

In the end, Mayor Pro-Tempore Sissy Reed chose to resolve the issue at the most recent council meeting by voting to approve the appointments.  She spoke of her reasons for changing her vote, and her desire for allowing development proposals to move forward for our city.