Hi folks,

Item 22 on the City Council agenda for next Tuesday evening is associated with the approval of Majestic Liquor coming to town.  Their coming  may not be able to be stopped if they meet the zoning requirements without a variance to the current PD zoning.  If a variance is required, the application must go back to P&Z for approval.  This would require notification of all property owners within 200 feet of the site as well as public hearing before both P&Z and Council.  As many of you know, I raised the issue of non-compliance with the PD zoning requirements last Tuesday evening at P&Z. 

So there is no confusion with respect to the current campaign for Mayor, I want to make clear that it is not the current Council's fault that we are having issues with this application.  The issue is frankly due to an oversight by the 2005 Council.  We did not exclude off-site consumption of beer, wine, and liquor from the PD when it was originally put in place.  Yes, I was a member of that Council.

As of yesterday, to my knowledge,  full rectification of the zoning issue has not been completed.  The current Majestic Application may not be able to be approved without the elimination of the current internet liquor store that currently operates on the site. 

I urge you to express your concern at the Tuesday Council Meeting.  You will be allowed to speak during "Visitor's Comments" at the beginning of the meeting by filling out a form as you enter that asks you to specify what item you wish to address and whether you are for or against.   You can also register your concerns by emailing the Council.  Access to the agenda for that meeting that will enable you to read the history concerning the application is easy and straight forward.  Click on "The City of Highland Village" link on the lower right of this webpage.  Once on the site, click on "Agendas", then click on "View Agenda" under City Council.  A PDF will come up in your browser with the agenda and a list of items.  The items on the agenda are listed by number.  By clicking on "Item 22" on the left hand side, the information about the application will come into full view.

Thanks for your help on this issue.  As always, your comments are welcome and please vote May 10. 

Hi folks,

I viewed an interesting discussion about carbon credits on the McNeil Lerher News report last night.  Carbon credits are credits that are earned when power used is not produced by burning fossil fuel. These credits can be traded with companies that do burn fossil fuel to produce power.  A simple example is an airline burns kerosene to propel its airplanes.  A windmill generates power using the wind.  The airline earns negative credits and the energy user of the windmill generated power earns positive credits.  If the airline is interested in being a good carbon citizen, then they will buy positive credits from the wind power generator to offset their negative credits.  Yes, there are brokerages that deal with this phenomenon.   One can be found at www.carbonfund.org.  The negative carbon creditors buy positive credits from the positive carbon creditors.  This purchase allows the positive creditors to expand their power generating capability.   

What if Highland Village utilized solar and wind power to supply electricity to their buildings.  The utilization of solar and wind power to generate electricity would generate positive credits.  These positive credits could be used to offset the negative credits created by the vehicles operated by police and fire as well as parks and utilities.  If we were to generate enough solar and wind power to create a positive carbon balance to overcome the negative credits produced by our vehicular use, then we could sell those positive credits to the negative carbon credit generators through the brokerage firm.  Could we possibly turn carbon credits into a way to pay for the costs of utilizing wind power and solar power to supply electricity to our City buildings?  Don't know but it might warrant a study.  

As always, let me know what you think and don't forget to vote May 10.  I will give you an update in my next post on whether the liquor store will be on the Tuesday City Council agenda.

Folks,

Last night, at the Highland Village P&Z meeting, the site plan was approved for Majestic Liquor.  I think there may have been two or three departures from due process but because of the fact that we are in the middle of a campaign for Mayor, I really do not feel that I should be in the lead to fight the coming of another liquor store.  If I lead the fight, the opposition to the site plan will be perceived as a political move rather than a concern that we all have.  This perception might lead to trivializing of the opposition to the coming of Majestic Liquor to Highland Village.   Therefore, I am asking you all to fight this from our collective concern about another liquor store coming to town.  

Facts are these:

1. As of yesterday's date there is already a liquor store on the site www.hihousa.com

2. Last night the developer promised to evict the current internet liquor store in favor of Majestic

3. The P&Z approved the site plan with two caveats, 1 no internet store, 2 parking space variance

4. Since the staff did not think that either of these were a serious variance to the zoning ordinance, there was no notification of people within 200 feet nor public hearing about the issue.

I think that the matter is serious enough that both the notification and public hearing should have occurred.  I need your help now since it will be an issue for Council.  Please register your complaint concerning the approval of another liquor store for Highland Village through emails to Council.  This can be done by clicking on the Highland Village link on the right and accessing the City Council drop down tab.  Demand that notification of property owners within 200 feet of the new proposed liquor store occurs.  Also request that a public hearing be held before City Council considers the ordinance approving the Majestic Site Plan such that the Citizens can address the issue.  Thanks.

As always, your comments are welcome and please vote May 10.