OPINION: Council action to pay off in future

The timing is perfect. No one is developing property now. Commerce is not likely to see significant commercial development for years, so an additional set of development standards isn’t putting the brakes on imminent development. It’s ensuring that the development, whenever it comes, will be beneficial to the community. Meanwhile, there is still time for the council to amend the ordinance if flaws are identified.

While many bemoan the fact that growth in Commerce lags behind that in West Jackson and Braselton, Commerce’s location gives it the opportunity to learn from the experiences on the west side of the county and to benefit from lessons learned. One of the lessons is that growth, whether it is residential, commercial or industrial, must be planned and directed to lessen its negative impact on the community’s environment and property values — which is what all zoning strives to accomplish.

The city council’s first responsibility is to look after the residents of Commerce, not the land speculators and commercial developers. That includes creating an environment attractive to business and industry that will help support the city school system and provide jobs, and potential large businesses and industries want assurances that their investment won’t be eroded by helter-skelter development around them. Those kinds of companies are more comfortable with a higher standard of development regulations than with less.

But the overlay is just one tool. Several people have pointed out that the downtown district has its sore spots as well, and the city should move to address those issues to protect the historical integrity of the area. For starters, the council should move promptly to install architectural standards in the central business district. Currently, if a downtown building burns to the ground, there is nothing to prevent the property owner from erecting a metal building in its place. While the overlay district has design standards, the central business district has design recommendations. That must change.

The Downtown Development Authority is already looking at the creation of an “urban redevelopment plan,” a document that could eventually lead to providing incentives for the redevelopment of blighted areas that are in town but outside the central business district (inside of the overlay district).

A community is a living organism. It changes, grows, shrinks and shows its age, and as a living organism it needs care and maintenance to stay healthy — or to return to good health. Local government can’t cause an individual business to succeed, but it has a role in the viability of the community as a whole. The zoning ordinance, including the overlay, is one tool. Building standards for the downtown and programs to encourage reinvestment in vacant or under utilized properties are others. The results will not come quickly, but action taken in 2012 by the Commerce City Council will pay off over the decades to come.