rezoning
if it was a forgone conclusion, then the elected board of directors had a responsibility to disclose what they knew and/or get feedback in some kind of forum/meeting/newsletter/survey/poll. nothing of the sort relative to the impact the rezoninng would have was done. instead, i only found out about the *support* letter from the srhoa (contingent on the agreements the challenge the rezone select members were able to negotiate for) at the last city council meeting. supporting the agreements another group was formulating that would directly impact sonoma ranch. to me, it's similar to signing a contract with blanks to be filled in later. how did the board know the CTR people would work in the best interests of sonoma ranch? where's the wisdom in allowing that to even be a consideration? where was the board of directors in the negotiations? what can they claim credit for? my belief is that for starters, their lack of action in hiring an attorney(basic, but a cost saving, challenge the rezone to assume *all* the lawyer's fees) and seeking the community's feedback(easily done in a ballot/newsletter) was negligent at the very least or by design.
strongly opposing the rezoning until infrastructure is in place, having the traffic lights installed prior to any development, fully addressing fire/ems for the area, aquifer considerations-less impervious cover per the AGUA group. check www.hausmanunited.org for the specific details. i share the same iterests. i'd like to have seen more, but the previous are basics that are long overdue and should have been in place prior to annexation 01/01/06.
sonoma ranch will benefit from what the challenge the rezone did, but because i have higher customer service expectations from the elected board members and pro-comm, i'd like to have seen more effort and actual work in getting the most instead of relying on the CTR (mostly arbor residents) to shoulder all the negotiating. the arbor hoa hired/fired an attorney at the onset and then the CTR hired an attorney. who did srhoa hire? what was their work product and what can they claim credit for? i think their attitude and position rested squarely on not wanting to spend any money whatsoever to protect our community(sonnoma ranch) interests. remember the composition of the board, who is on it and who do they work for? does ab galo still have an interest in the area?
think about this the next time you are in traffic at either end of sonoma parkway, your car gets ticketed for parking illegally near beard elementary, hear of an pedestrian accident at primrose day care, gates are damaged because someone rams them or even if fire/ems take >10 minutes to respond to you or your neighbor because of traffic on kyle seale or hausman.
-richard
By richard