There was some passionate feelings expressed in the District One meeting on Thursday. Thanks to the CatoNeighbors who came.
I want to give a special shout out to Robert Taylor, our host from the Word of Life Church. First, for hosting the community meetings and recording them and posting them on the church's YouTube Channel. It's a great service to the community to offer. And especially for his being/bringing the peace and calming the crowd when things got a little heated during the meeting.. Passions about development are strong in District 1 !
I'll admit I let myself get a little more worked up than maybe I needed to be, and I apologize to the members of the church I was raising my voice in, and for raising my voice at Councilman Hall and Mr. Dale without even having yet met them in person to discuss the matter. Cooler heads could have prevailed.
I learned a lot that night about the zoning process, this project, the players, the history and the shared passion among the people there for wanting to preserve our perfect blend of country and access to growing city centers.
And for the need to help solve some real problems for our broader neighborhood - schools, infrastructure, housing. And, to be fair, Mr. Overby's right to do something profitable and legal with his land should not be left out of this equation, either. He's a Cato Neighbor, too.
AND... we can start having a community-wide conversation about changing the Community Character Manual to reflect the most current needs and desires of our community with respect to growth.
Mr. Dale said he would ask the Planning Commission to "defer indefinitely" the rezoning application. We'll look to confirm this with MPC.
Here is the recording: