When a citizen spoke at a city council meeting regarding Mayor Koelker's "vision for an urban village," she would send a letter like this one to the person. What is so misleading is that zoning is the baseline--the cornerstone--for all that follows. Highlands residents and property owners don't have "many opportunities to have input, to learn more, and to ask questions" --not if it concerns zoning and the impacts from zoning. The time is NOW when citizens can still appeal zoning decisions with the City Council and formally through the SEPA process, if necessary.

After the City Council adopts zoning and that zoning is incorporated into the Comp Plan, it is too late for citizen input. But isn't that what the mayor wants with a letter like the one below? To lull the citizens into thinking nothing is wrong, work is progressing as it should and they will be able to input to the planning process later? The future is too late. By then, citizens could find condemnation notices on their doors because a developer wants to build high density housing on THEIR land.

And citizens are not stupid . . . when they read Alex Pietsch's statement of work along with his schedule, there is no doubt what the mayor's "vision for an urban village" entails.