My granddad used to warn me, “When you go target shooting, concentrate on your mark and whatever you do, don’t shoot yourself in the foot; otherwise you won’t have a foot to stand on.”
Mark Hunt, owner/developer of the Mill Street SCI property, which is home to 21 local serving businesses, asked for a rezoning of use from SCI to mixed-use with the condition that the existing 21 local SCI businesses be given the protection of first right of refusal to stay in their location if the change of use was granted.
Currently the tenants do not have first right of refusal, whether the property is zoned SCI or mixed-use, nor is there any deed-restricted rent control in the SCI or mixed-use district.
Mayor Steve Skadron and council members Ward Hauenstein, Ann Mullins and Adam Frisch voted “no” for the rezoning with the condition that the existing 21 SCI businesses could stay put.
Now the existing SCI tenants do not have a leg to stand on to stay in their spaces. Current approved uses for the SCI are a grow facility for marijuana and a car dealership — both with plenty of parking allowed under the current zoning code.
Anyone up for a smoke in your new Rolls Royce?
Toni Kronberg
Aspen