Letter: Sliding into the ditch in Richland
A lot of us were upset when Richland city officials started accepting rezoning of the top of Little Badger Mountain to single-family dwelling.
We believe the rezoning was driven by a city council that doesn’t understand Little Badger’s value to the community.
Garnering taxes on valuable assets of our community by this zoning action does not support the city’s value/mission/vision statements.
It’s easy to blame the people who bought and built on the Little Badger property.
But they are doing what our city management legalized.
Richland citizens have been upset with the shortfalls in tax revenues for the Duportail Bridge and road maintenance, which has resulted in the passage of a $20 car tab fee.
Some of us believe the growth-driven philosophy of the city has caused this lack of funding and services.
On Dec. 19, the city council approved more rezoning of Little Badger; which requires expensive extension of services to the top of Little Badger: utilities and critical health and safety services.
On Jan. 1, I drove up to the top of Little Badger and found out, the hard way, that with all the taxes paid Little Badger citizens aren’t getting critical services they need.
Robert Benedetti, Richland
This story was originally published January 13, 2018 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Letter: Sliding into the ditch in Richland."