Holden: Growth requires infrastructure investment, affordable housing

Mike Holden is tired of watching Columbia play catch-up with growth.
If elected in April to the Fourth Ward seat on the Columbia City Council, Holden said he will encourage city leaders to adopt a new way of thinking that would put Columbia in control of its growing infrastructure and enable the city to stop relying on developers to build public roads and bridges.

“I really do believe that the city is on the cusp of major change, but we have a very old-school way of thinking that is pervasive in administration and on the City Council,” Holden said. “The city has not properly budgeted for road and bridge construction and has relied on developers to pick up the cost.”

As a result, the cost of a starter home in Columbia has skyrocketed from about $70,000 in the late 1980s to more than $130,000 today, because developers are passing on the expense of building roads and bridges to homebuyers, Holden said.

“The city is still operating the way it did 25 years ago,” he said.
Holden suggests the city retool its budget so that a greater percentage of money is spent on infrastructure. He said about 20 percent of the city’s budget in 1985 went toward building roads and bridges. That percentage had dropped to 14 percent by 2005, he said.

Holden, 36, is running for the seat that will be vacated in April by outgoing Councilman Jim Loveless, 57, who announced in November he would not seek a third consecutive three-year term. Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Jerry Wade also is running for the seat. The deadline for filing is Jan. 18.

Holden, who serves on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, said the city should share the cost of infrastructure for new developments.

“Right now, the developer is carrying the largest burden of the cost,” he said. “There is simply not affordable housing in Columbia for the working class.”

Don Stamper, executive director of the Central Missouri Development Council, agrees the cost of housing in Columbia has outpaced the income of the average working-class resident. But he isn’t convinced the council is fully aware of the discrepancy.

“I don’t think they’re getting good information,” he said.

Stamper said his group has not endorsed a candidate for the open seat. However, he warned against electing a candidate who is afraid of development.

“We’re in a cycle in which we don’t need any more anti-progress and anti-growth,” Stamper said. “We have enough of that on the council. What we need are people who can use common sense and know what to do to help a growing community.”

Holden said his family has been in the title insurance industry since 1920, when his grandfather started a business in St. Louis. Today, as co-owner of Guaranty Land Title Insurance Co., Holden said he has developed valuable insight into the city’s land-use issues.

If elected, Holden said his top three priorities for the Fourth Ward would include the widening of Scott Boulevard between Chapel Hill Road and the MKT Trail, a stretch of roadway he described as “among the most unsafe roads in Columbia.” Holden also would support the planned improvement of West Broadway between Clinkscales Road and Aldeah Avenue, but with an eye toward preserving the historic character of the roadway.

“I don’t want to see the character of Broadway ruined,” he said. “I would like to see small right of ways used to improve traffic flow, because what the Fourth Ward needs is a quicker route to downtown during rush hour.”

Finally, Holden said, the city could improve its relationship with the business community as well as other residents by using the Internet to offer more services. For example, constituents could use the Internet to renew business licenses or apply for rezoning.

Holden said it is important to balance development with protecting the city’s environment. That’s why he supports the stream buffer ordinance. But he doesn’t believe in imposing rules to control aesthetics.

“When a city starts to impose aesthetics concerns, then it pushes up the cost of development,” Holden said. “I believe the marketplace determines the aesthetics. If you have an attractive development, people will want to go there.”

Holden said he supported the extension of LeMone Industrial Boulevard because it was obvious to him that corner of Columbia should be used for commercial development.

“I think it is reasonable to have a development at the corner of an expressway and a freeway,” he said.

Holden also supports Columbia’s role as the retail center of mid-Missouri, though he said he has not been a rubber stamp for every proposed development that has come before the Planning and Zoning Commission. For example, Holden cast a dissenting vote in 2005 against a controversial — and now recently complete — plan to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter on West Broadway.

“Retail is a good business, and it’s a healthy industry to thrive,” he said, adding that sometimes high-tech developments can bring with them people who don’t invest in the community. “They might be investing in the stock market. You need industry that has middle-class and working-class jobs because those are the people who put money back
into the community.

“That is what retail jobs can do,” Holden said. “That’s not a bad scenario for Columbia.”

Jeff Barrow, who has served with Holden on the city Planning and Zoning Commission, said he thinks Holden has tried to establish himself as a pro-business candidate and often tries to find innovative ways to help launch proposed developments.

“He kind of thinks outside the box, and in some ways that’s good,” Barrow said. “He is thinking outside of the box to help the developer develop. I would say that if you were a pro-development person, Holden would be a good guy to have” on the council.v

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