NIMBY

By John Earp

Not in my backyard. That was the resounding voice of a near-capacity crowd of citizens attending the meeting of the Jal City Council this past Monday evening. Many of those attending used their voice during public comments and during the Planning & Zoning Commission session to urge the commission to vote against rezoning to allow for construction of a new man camp near Jal Lake Park. The proposed development would have included three modular homes that were to be designated as low-income housing, in addition to several more single-family modular homes along the periphery of the development, with the man camp being placed away from existing homes.

During the Public Comment segment of the city council meeting, 8 residents from near the proposed site voiced their opposition to the city allowing a new man camp to be constructed there, with several saying they felt unsafe with the kinds of workers who typically live in such man camps. More than one said the town needs more housing for families. Though both the city and the school district have been trying for several years to get new single-family homes built in town, that has been a very difficult task, with basically no results thus far.

The school district has recently negotiated with the city to receive back several homesites on the old elementary school property, with the plan being to bring in several modular duplexes on the site. The city council voted to sell the property back to the school district for one dollar. The school district had given the land to the city several years ago after the old elementary school had been demolished, with the agreement being that the city would have houses built or moved in within a certain time frame.

After a presentation from the company representative, Mr. Maloney, who fielded some questions from the audience in addition to a few from the councilors, the council voted unanimously to not approve the zoning change.

Additionally, the Planning & Zoning Commission approved the subdivision of a tract of land in the east half of section 29 township 25 south, range 37 east, with the primary goal being to make certain plots available along Highway 18 for commercial development. To the east of those plots, most of the tract would remain undeveloped, with the easternmost portion continuing to be designated as a disposal area in case the wastewater treatment plant across the highway should ever need to dispose of excess treated wastewater, per government regulations.