Residents Call for Meeting with UP Mayor
Following University Park City Council’s decision to postpone a vote on a zoning ordinance for developer Jim Strode’s Park Plaza project, the group University Park Residents for a Neighborhood-Friendly Development, who oppose the plan, sent an open letter to Mayor Olin Lane requesting a community meeting with him and Jim Strode.
According to the group’s Facebook page, Lane and Mayor Pro Tem Dawn Moore will meet with the group in a moderated open forum regarding the zoning issue. The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the UP Library.
Opposition to Strode’s plan has increased since the project was first presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission this summer. And despite voicing concerns during city council’s three-part public hearing, residents and Snider Plaza tenants still feel unheard.
The group has now created a petition to grant UP residents the right to vote to recall elected officials and submit proposed ordinances to city council. The group previously submitted two petitions against the zoning ordinance, each of which accrued more than 650 signatures.
City Council is expected to vote on the zoning ordinance, which is available for review on the UP website, on Oct. 18.
