As most of the community is aware, it is not the City Commission who will decide whether or not the land discussed in the recent Resolution 3937 is sold to any certain corporation. If and when the land is annexed to the city, the decision on what to build there, whether a Wal-Mart or a truck stop, will be up to the discretion of the landowners alone. However, public input in this matter could be of integral importance in this issue, and citizens of Livingston should be rightly informed of any meetings or hearings during which they might be able to voice opinions on the issue.
On Thursday morning April 24, City Commissioner Steve Caldwell contacted the editors of the Weekly to clarify certain points in the annexation issue that could lead to the annexation and development of commercial property west of Livingston. As the story has been developing over the past three days, the Weekly has been attempting to contact both the City of Livingston and the landowners, the Jessons, for a statement or clarification of points in the issue.
Caldwell emphasized that if the the property mentioned in Resolution 3937 goes through a process of annexation to the city, there will be many opportunities for public comment. At the discussions during the City Commission meeting on April 21, the commissioners amended the city growth policy to target the area for annexation. The continuing process, once the landowners submit an official petition for acquisition, will include defining the terms of such annexation, holding a public hearing to discuss the resolution to annex, a process of sending the resolution to the planning board, going through a platting and subdivision revision process and eventually discussing the matter once again or perhaps a number of times before a regular City Commission meeting, therefore allowing for a number of opportunities for public input.
"It's a long, orderly process," Commissioner Caldwell said, and indicated the process may even take up to a year, again stressing that during this process there would be many opportunities for public comment. Citizens interested in the city's annexation process may contact the City of Livingston offices at (406) 222-2005 for more information. Notices of meeting are also posted outside the city offices at the City/County building on Callender Street and posted in the local paper of record, the daily Enterprise, available around Livingston and Park County for 75ยข.
While many citizens have expressed concern that there will not be ample time to protest this particular development in Livingston, according to Caldwell, there will be many opportunities to contribute opinion on the issue. Previous posts on this website have been edited to reflect this.
The Weekly will be presenting a special feature on preventing the encroachment of Wal-Mart into small towns in the Saturday, April 26 issue, and full investigative coverage of this issue will be presented in the Saturday, May 3 issue. Please comment on this website with further information or clarification or email news@livingstonweekly.com.
The editors at the Weekly are always open to fostering communication in the community, and rely upon our readers, city and county officials and citizens to contribute valuable information on issues of importance to this community. The editors at the Weekly feel compelled to look into any issue that will affect the community of Livingston, and attempt at all times to be fair and objective, and we welcome comments from the community on our attempts to do so.
Has Wal-Mart even considered Livingston, or is 90% of this "Breaking News!!!" bit just hysteria? It appears that the zoning change(s) being considered would allow certain types of companies to purchase land and legally operate their businesses, but is there ANY proof that Wal-Mart has reviewed Livingston as a potential location for a store? I don't like the idea of Wal-Mart coming to Livingston any more than anyone else, but it would be good to see some actual facts included with the reporting on this issue, rather just editorial fear-filler. I think it's good to have the discussion and prepare for the potentials of such a zoning change, but I fear another round of watching Livingston Elitists tell someone what they can or cannot do with their own property. In other words, Colorado is that way ----->
Posted by: RoundSquare | May 02, 2008 at 08:27 AM