The first City of Whitewater Planning Commission meeting of the year took place last night, 1/19/09.
I did not catch the beginning of the meeting, offering an agenda of ten items, including roll call, future items, and adjournment. The meeting was a brief one, with uncontroversial items considered quickly, and Gregory Torres presiding for the evening. Like most meetings in most places, participants outnumbered observing citizens, about 2-1.
A few comments on the evening’s events.
SweetSpot Coffee Shop. Lacey Reichwald, new owner of the SweetSpot, sought a conditional use permit application to serve beer/liquor by bottle or glass at her establishment. (The application runs with the proprietor, and so a new proprietor would have to seek conditional use approval granted a previous owner.)
As there is no new request for conduct, and no one has reason to doubt the new owner’s abilities, granting a request like this should be a simple matter. It was, ultimately being approved unanimously. There was some concern about serving beverages in glass on the location’s porch, but it was a concern only of one Planning Commission member. Considering the size of the porch, with a limited number of seats, it’s no threat to the community to serve alcoholic beverages in glass.
Now, I understand – after a discussion of the matter – that glass like this was once a community concern. Well, yes, I am sure it was. Perhaps for some, it still is. It wouldn’t be my concern, but just about anyone can make a matter seem dramatic with the right presentation. If safety’s really a concern, we’d probably preserve health better if we required everyone to wear helmets and steel-toed shoes.
There’s risk in life, including pleasant experiences like enjoying a beverage in a glass. If we want pleasant experiences, and patrons and shoppers who’d like the same to visit downtown Whitewater, we’ll just have to risk a beer or wine in a glass.
Re-zoning for Homes along Lindsey Court, and Conditional Use on Tratt Street. Item 7 on the agenda was consideration of re-zoning parcels in the Lindsey Court area from R-1 (single family) to R-3 (multi-family). The property owners of the affected parcels support the re-zoning. The owners’ attorney attended the meeting on their behalf, and later on behalf of DLK for a conditional use permit application, Item 8 on the agenda.
The Council member representative, a contributor to the Whitewater Register, and frequent exponent of politics as nostalgia, moved to approve Item 7. Impermissible, of course – the Planning Commission can only recommend to Council. Reminded of the difference, the motion was changed accordingly.
Item 8 involved a conditional use application for conversion to a duplex at 202 N Tratt Street.
Both of these changes are nothing more than the affirmation of a vibrant community that responds to the needs of its residents. Despite all the controversy about re-zoning in Whitewater, flexible re-zoning, or conditional use change, is one of the best things that this city will ever do. I do not believe that we have a housing problem in Whitewater, except this one: that we exacerbate our troubled local economy when we stubbornly insist on preserving existing arrangements as though insects in amber.