Another big crowd voiced their opinions at the July 24th meeting of the Jackson City Council in regards to changing the Commercial zoning of the 58 acre Surian property which is the proposed location for Home Depot and several other large retail stores. In the end, the Council approved a motion to retain the C-2 Commercial Zoning.
However, in conjunction with this action, they also endorsed adding three types of zoning designations, or “overlays” to the existing Commercial zoning which will have the intent to offer them much greater control over the scope of any project in this location. Later in the meeting Vice Mayor Andy Rodriquez even took it one more step by recommending that the City of Jackson and Amador County enter into an agreement to purchase this property for the benefit of the community.
Before this topic on the evening’s agenda began, Mayor Al Nunes excused himself from the meeting. His residence is located adjacent to the Surian property and he would be disallowed from voting on the issue. Rosa Lee Pryor was absent. The three members of the Jackson City Council in attendance all let their opinions be known that the proposed Home Depot project in this location would not get their support. By recommending the three zoning overlays of Historical Corridor, Visual Corridor and Planned Development; the intent is to put enough restrictions into place that it would make a commercial project like the one being proposed difficult if not impossible to approve without meeting stringent guidelines. The general consensus of the Council was that by not changing the zoning it would protect the owner’s property rights and avoid any legal challenges to the City of Jackson.
Vice Mayor Andy Rodriguez prefaced the agenda discussion by firmly stating that “this meeting is about the zoning of the Surian property only. If you think it is about Home Depot then you are mistaken.” However, as the discussion began it quickly became clear from comments made by both the public and the Council that it is very difficult to separate the two issues.
Thorton Consolo who initiated the request for the zoning change, opened the Public Comment session on the rezoning. He stated that although he respects the rights of property owners, “the value of everyone else’s property around this parcel would go down and Jackson will be a place no one will want to live in for the sake of allowing the Surians to sell their property for the highest possible price.”
Also represented during the public discussion were the property owners, the Surian family. Their legal counsel, Larry Watson, stated that the Surians have been part of the community for over 40 years and have paid their property taxes for this property during this time. He argued that the Historical Corridor Overlay is primarily reserved for residential and not commercial property and would not be appropriate for this parcel. He believed that the Planned Development Overlay alone would offer the Council all the discretion it needs.
Local real estate developer Tony D’Arcy also spoke in support of retaining the zoning as is. He stated that “open space leads to problems with transients and trash. You may ooh and ahh at that comment, but just ask the police department.” He also felt that the Planned Development Overlay would be sufficient to take care of all the issues.
Susan Bragstad spoke on behalf of both the Foothill Conservancy and the Kennedy Mine Foundation. She reminded the Council that this “represents a lot of people”. Her comments included that the City use eminent domain to purchase the property at a fair value. She also suggested issuing bonds as another possibility to prevent “disastrous” development of this property.
Councilwoman Marilyn Lewis commented that in order for the will of the people to be heard, this zoning issue should have been put on a ballot. She expressed concerns as to why it was not even considered to do this before the deadline for the November ballot had passed. Lewis also stated that the Council has the right to change the zoning to meet the needs of the community. She initially supported changing the zoning away from Commercial but later supported the unanimous decision to recommend the three overlays instead. At one point she received a round of applause from the audience when she commented that “without a General Plan in place, we shouldn’t even be reviewing any development.”
Councilman Stidger had a number of questions and concerns about rezoning this property. When he asked “why complicate the issues with these other overlays?” he received clarification from City Planner Susan Peters. She stated that the Historical and Visual Corridor Overlays offered more specific guidelines and greater control over any final project. He also learned from the City’s legal counsel that there could be potential litigation in regards to the devaluation of the Surian’s property by rezoning, or “down zoning” it. Although “tricky to determine” if this would be the case with this property, it was apparent that the Council weighed this point strongly in their final decision. Stidger had opened his remarks by applauding how many more people were getting involved with City government lately. He also cautioned against some of the public using misinformation and intimidation in trying to sway opinion on matters such as the one they were discussing tonight.
The very beginning of the meeting began on a contentious note when Thorton Consolo took Mayor Al Nunes to task for several comments Nunes had made at last week’s Jackson Planning Commission Meeting. Nunes was paraphrased as stating that Jackson needs large retail establishments for the sales tax revenue they would generate to fix the roads. Consolo countered Nunes’ statement by stating that that these stores would create more traffic problems than they could pay for. Mayor Nunes was also criticized by Consolo because he had commented earlier that many of the people in attendance at recent City meetings were not even from Jackson. Consolo argued that this was not true and that even if it were, the city’s issues are the county’s issues. Later in the meeting, Carla Bowers asked for a show of hands for Jackson residents and over half of the large crowd raised their hands. In concluding his remarks, Consolo stated that if these were the opinions of the mayor, perhaps he should not be the mayor.
