On Thursday, October 12, there was a public hearing on The Midlands development (behind the Goodwill and Dairy Queen on Highway 22).
At the end of the meeting, the Commissioners voted to approve a continuance of the meeting until Thursday, October 26, 6:00 p.m. at the Old Jail Building.
The continuance is intended to give the Fenley team sufficient time to present new information about their willingness (or not) to phase-in The Midland?’s construction according to a running assessment of its impact on traffic.
Commissioners and staff were looking for all possible ways to avoid rejecting the development, and the issue of traffic congestion was a key barrier for approval.
At the end of the 4?½-hour public hearing, most Commissioners spoke in favor of the concept of The Midlands, but they acknowledged that the traffic problems seemed almost insurmountable.
Their preferred approach seemed to encourage the Fenleys to approach the project on a phased-in basis ?– one that could be halted or speeded up according to its actual impact on traffic. Stephen Lutz, the staff case manager, said that ?– up to now ?– the Fenleys had rejected this phased-in approach. The continuance to October 26 would allow the developer to re-evaluate this approach and report back to the Commission.
