Mission Mayor Steve Schowengerdt broke a 4-4 tie on the city council Wednesday night and voted in favor of a preliminary site plan for the latest Gateway development proposal, which is anchored by a 155,000 square foot Walmart.
Voting to approve the plan were councilors Pat Quinn, Jennifer Cowdry, Jason Vaughn and Suzie Gibbs. Voting against it were councilors Dave Shepard, Amy Miller, Arcie Rothrock and Debbie Kring. Vaughn was missing when the council voted the plan down, 4-3 in November.
The vote Wednesday was to approve a preliminary site plan. It was not the final hurdle that the Gateway project must clear before construction can start. A new development agreement must be worked out and approved by the city council, including financing incentives. The council also must approve a Tax Increment Financing project plan. That approval, again from the city council, will require a super-majority to pass, or six of the eight councilors.
Developer Tom Valenti of the Cameron Group in New York, has indicated the project cannot be built without $29 million in special obligation bonds. Those bonds would be supported by the TIF district, diverting property tax increases, and by two Community Improvement Districts that impose a higher sales tax rate on retailers in the development.
Mayor Schowengerdt, after casting his deciding vote, acknowledged, “this is just the beginning and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Before the vote, several Mission residents registered their objections to the plan to applause from the full house at city hall. The plan, and specifically the Walmart portion of the development, has been highly unpopular among residents who voiced opinions in public sessions or on comments attached to media coverage of the issue.
Ken Davis, president of the Countryside neighborhood association, said residents in that community are 85 percent against the plan. They find it “distasteful” to have a Walmart there, he said.
“I think we can do a heck of a lot better than that,” Andy Sandler said, adding he prefers to keep driving past a vacant lot until a better plan emerges.
Vaughn and Quinn both emphasized the vote was not about Walmart, but about the zoning process. “Your personal feelings about Walmart should have nothing to do with our vote,” Quinn said. The question, Vaughn had said earlier is, “does the plan … meet the zoning requirements?”
Shepard agreed the issue was planning and zoning, but disagreed that the plan met the requirements. “It is my strong belief,” Shepard said, “that the current proposed project plan does not meet with the MXD zoning.” Shepard had backed previous plans and said he had spent a nearly a decade trying to help Valenti and partners get the development done. “It’s not what my constituents want,” said Shepard. “In the end, it is the city council that makes policy.”
“It’s lost the whole spirit of what this city stands for,” Kring said of the development. She was excited about the previous plans that had an aquarium and boutique retail, she said. “Walmart has become the entire process now.”
“We have to think about the long term use of the property and the sustainability of it,” Miller said. “This is not about Walmart.” Countering Quinn’s remarks that the city could have put in ordinances preventing such a development if they did not want it, Miller said the city did speak up against a retail store larger than 50,000 square feet. The city’s zoning code contains restrictions on large super discount stores, passed in 2004.
Rothrock also said she did not believe the plan meets the MXD zoning requirement. She said her feedback was 95 percent against the plan.
Gibbs said she had heard from people along Johnson Drive this week that they just want something on that corner.
Cowdry was the most enthusiastic about the plan. “It is prettier than Prairie Fire or Zona Rosa,” she said. “It passed the planning commission twice.” The site plan had been passed by the planning commission a second time after being remanded back by the council.
“It comes down to our planning commission,” Schowengerdt said. “I trust our planning commission.” As to the development, he said, “it is a long way from happening.”
