Yes, it looks like we will be fighting the commercial rezone of the valley below me for a fifth year.

As I was writing my speech for last night’s Council meeting, I spotted these eagles taking advantage of the windy day. I was hoping it was a good omen. Nope.

At the end of the day, the vote went as expected: 4 to 3 in favor of redoing the Environmental Impact Statement in order to get the needed approval from the Growth Management Board for the rezone. Several of us tried our best to get these four to justify their decision based on the environmental realities of the property or the best interests of the City, but they stuck with simply calling it a property rights issue.

The process will take another nine months to a year to complete. The City will need an extension on the Board’s time-line for compliance. I will petition the board to refuse to grant that extension, but I don’t anticipate having much luck there. Our side has a great deal more experience advocating for this property now, so I am reasonably confident we will prevail once again, but it is such a colossal waste of everybody’s time and taxpayer money.