SHOVEL READY: Industrial sites at issue in Visioning flap

COLUMBIA, 2/2/10  (Beat Byte) --  A conflict over who said what about so-called "shovel ready sites"-- turnkey land parcels some city leaders claim might woo manufacturing firms to Columbia -- is partly to blame for an ongoing dispute between Columbia Vision Commission (CVC) members and City Hall staffers.

 

Language urging shovel ready site development in Sarah Read's Visioning Report ruffled feathers because CVC members say they never made such a recommendation. 

 

But during a Dec. 12, 2009 "mini retreat," Columbia city manager Bill Watkins told City Council members, "the Vision Commission, independently, came up with this idea that we needed three 'shovel ready' sites." 

 

CVC chairperson Dan Goldstein videotaped Watkins' comment and posted it on Youtube.

 

"I have been on the CVC since its inception.  I was also a member of the original Visioning Committee, starting after the first citizens topic group meeting," Goldstein emailed fellow Commission members.  "In neither group did we discuss shovel ready sites.  I have been poring over the original Imagine Columbia's Future, City of Columbia Vision and Action Plan, and I can find no mention of shovel ready sites." 

 

Goldstein even turned his documents over to computer search tools.  "I have searched the term 'shovel' in the original report pdf, to no avail," he explained. 

 

Concerned that "a major policy initiative is being undertaken by Council partially based on the statement from the City Manager that 'the vision commission independently came up with this idea,'" the CVC again contacted assistant city manager Paula Hertwig-Hopkins, who said the shovel ready site reference came from a so-called "Vision Implementation Report."

 

But the CVC had earlier disavowed the Implementation Report, passing a motion at its February 12, 2009 meeting.  From the minutes:  "Motion 2 -- Dianne Drainer:  The CVC wishes to make clear that the proposed draft of the Vision Implementation Report, prepared by a consultant engaged by the city, is not a product of the CVC.  Seconded: Jan Weaver.  In favor: all. Opposed: 0. Motion passed." 

 

"We decided at the February 12, 2009 meeting to frame our work in terms of the original 13 topics, instead of...the implementation report," CVC secretary Jan Weaver told the Heart Beat. 

 

"This motion was also shared with Council," Goldstein reminded.  "The Columbia Vision Commission has never endorsed the idea of shovel ready sites, and to the best of my knowledge, neither did the original citizens visioning report." 

 

Bill Watkins' Mini Retreat Comments (about 0:30)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po_pZcjh0aQ