When Jay Schlum presided over our town council including councilwoman Ginny Dicky, the community united to engage the world-renowned Swaback Partners Group to create a Vision Plan for the development of the Town of Fountain Hills. The plan, supported by months of Town Hall meetings, involved hundreds of residents across Fountain Hills from all age groups and all walks of life.
Input was gathered and evaluated by non-partisan groups. The final Vision Plan covered all aspects of both the quality of life and business growth in Fountain Hills.
Two cornerstones of the final report detailed the lifestyle construct for a thriving business/downtown environment:
1. The Swaback plan detailed maintaining “viewsheds and ridgelines that make Fountain Hills a unique enclave in the greater Valley.”
2. The redesign and improvement of the “walkability” of downtown, a key asset on the checklist that has put Fountain Hills on several lists as one of the best places to live in Arizona. The Greening of Downtown.
Sometimes we allow our leaders to make mistakes.
We can elect a council that pretends that development fees on a finite amount of new development parcels will keep the town financially healthy. We can elect a council that spends funds pretending that a new fake “beach” will make us into San Diego. We can elect a council that oversees significant development deals and forgets to collect those very same fees that are supposed to somehow assure our future.
Cecil Yates supported these ventures in spite of the fact they were not in the best interest of Fountain Hills. Now mayoral candidate Cecil Yates stands for taking away our view corridors by calling is “business development.”
Cecil cares more about winning than about the legacy of natural beauty that belongs to all of us.
