How good is the word of the City Council? The test comes Monday

Life has a knack for handing us our own comeuppance. A road construction project included in the last Capital Improvements Sales Tax extension, approved by voters, is in jeopardy when it comes up for a vote in the City Council on Monday, June 16.

Since the inception of The Concorde Industrial Park along the parallel LeMone Industrial and Maguire boulevards, city planners have assured both the public and the developer that LeMone Industrial Boulevard would be extended north across Grindstone Creek.

The extension is an important link in our community transportation network and necessary to improve substandard access for emergency medical, fire and police services.

Before the April elections, the city council pushed for an extension of Maguire Boulevard across the creek rather than LeMone Industrial Boulevard as a less environmentally intrusive route. The Maguire extension alternative includes a loop around New Haven School, forming a third exit from the Concorde Office and Industrial Plaza. If the Maguire extension is in fact approved for construction on Monday, there will be no ill will harbored by those who have waited many years for the northern extension from the industrial park.

Reasonable folks accept alternative solutions that meet fundamental expectations. However, some members of the current council are feeding the rumor mill by indicating that they intend to block the extension by not approving easement and right-of-way acquisition for the Maguire alignment. A political maneuver for sure, it is also dishonest. Without the easements and right of way, the project cannot be constructed. The necessary easements, right of way and development agreements were in place for the LeMone extension. Blocking a project under the guise of a better solution is wrong.

More issues are in play with this project. Is it proper for a subsequent city council to overturn a prior council’s construction approval? Although not legally bound to follow the list of construction projects outlined in the Capital Improvements Sales Tax extension, how can voters trust a city council that doesn’t keep its word? As council members, do we not have a higher standard to meet than the bare minimum of technicalities and legalities? Columbia, to date, has never reneged on its word in regard to the projects proposed to be built with Capital Improvement Sales Tax funds. Will that now change?

Is not government’s first duty to serve the constituents who lawfully grant its power and fund its operations? Concorde Industrial Park contributes mightily to our local economy. Almost 1,900 people are employed in the area. Average daily visits are approximated at just over 1,400. The real estate only is valued by the assessor’s office at nearly $9 million. The improvements total almost another $38 million. Seven properties combined in this area contribute over $1 million dollars in personal property tax alone. Twenty eight more contribute a hefty sum also. They are doing their fair share. As a community, we need to protect, nurture and encourage these employers of a skilled work force.

Having contributed to our economy for so many years, the employers and employees are now due the northern extension of a street that was planned over 30 years ago when Bob LeMone turned the first shovel of dirt to begin a gutsy project providing speculative industrial real estate. They are due the same levels of disaster preparedness as any other segment of our community. Two access points to U.S. Highway 63 are desperately needed. The loop around New Haven Elementary School is a bonus in regard to access. However, the last thing we should do is add to the congestion of buses and vehicles carrying children by intentionally circling rush hour traffic around an elementary school when we can provide a second direct access to U. S. Highway 63.

Boasting that “this council has yet to vote on this project” is akin to complaining that this council did not vote on the original plat of our city as laid out by the Smithton Land Company in the early 1800s. Even an activist council must constrain its enthusiastic omnipotence in favor of basic honesty. During the recent visioning process, I was struck by one common thread in regard to governance: everyone was disappointed in how the City Council conducts itself.

Ahhh, what is this vision I see now… a horse and buggy fording Grindstone Creek along Highway 63?

Larry Schuster is a former city councilman and political observer.