I am passionately in favor of development of a reliable revenue stream for the community and for population encouraging growth which would better sustain local commercial ventures.

However, I do not want to lower the community’s standards and damage our scenic image and reputation by approving any project that comes along.

The Park Place project is marginal, at best, with a density of 28 rental units per acre above commercial space along the avenue. To increase the density from 45 to 50 units per acre and allowing greater structure heights makes the project all wrong for our town.

More commercial space is not the immediate need and the sight line from the Community Center and Library area to the fountain would be severely affected.

The loss of parking due to the increased density could also be a serious issue. I would much rather see an urban renewal type project which would relocate most of the businesses in the older and less attractive properties along Saguaro Boulevard to the downtown area, to be replaced by affordable housing designed to attract younger families. There may even be State or Federal grants for this type of project.

Most important, let us not rush headlong into a project just because it will cover an empty space when the end result of such action could be much worse than a vacant lot!