Here are complete blip.tv videos of the 12/2/02 meeting of the King Street Zoning Workshop Subcommittee (2h 14m) and the Planning Board meeting (1h 26m) that immediately followed it. The workshop was recorded by Mary Likins, and the Planning Board meeting was recorded by Lachlan Ziegler. Click for the meeting agendas.
While there will be future meetings for the public to comment on King Street’s proposed zoning revisions, it remains unfortunate that those who abut properties on King Street have yet to be notified by mail in a systematic way. Best practices would suggest that stakeholders be invited to discussions early, before a lot of time and effort have been invested in a particular set of proposals.
For example, at the December 2 workshop former Ward 3 City Councilor Bob Reckman suggested that developers be allowed to build all the way to the back of their lots (see YouTube video below). This presumably would imperil the buffer that’s currently required between commercial and residential lots on King Street. Or consider the opinion voiced by Chamber of Commerce member Ed Etheredge at the King Street workshop of November 13, where he objected to imposing design standards on the sides of buildings not visible from public streets, as this could give abutters more power to object to proposals.
If some residential abutters had been present at either of these workshops, they might have expressed concerns about sentiments like these.
King Street Zoning Workshop Subcommittee, 12/2/02