Dear Editor:
The city is deciding to redefine commercial zoning for more diverse commercial development on 4th East, supposedly for our convenience.
As I understand it there has been limited commercial zoning on 4th East for a long time. These zones date to the era when the highway went down 4th East. The commercial zoning on 4th East should have reverted to residential years ago. Obviously Dave’s and Milt’s and the Apache Hotel would have been grandfathered in. There is no way those zones will remain small. Once that zoning door is opened, it will be hard if not impossible for future councils to say no to “up zoning” or to stop “zone creep.” I know; I have been there.
Expanding the zoning definition will bring more traffic, noise and light pollution into quiet residential areas.
I encourage all residents whether on the west side or east side of Main Street to contact the city council and tell them to reverse course and keep commercial zoning out of all the residential areas. We have a commercial downtown with undeveloped commercial land heading north and south.
Moab has a severe housing shortage. The city should be addressing that issue before creating more commercial development that will eat up scarce residential property. This concept is about greed, not convenience.
We should keep a “second downtown” from encroaching into our quieter neighborhoods on either side of town. It will take only one more vote against this idea to kill it.
