Letter: Supports St. Croix Meadows rezoning

Dear Editor,

On Feb. 13, 2012, the Hudson School District and the attorney for St. Croix Meadows property requested that the city of Hudson Plan Commission recommend that the St. Croix Meadows property be rezoned for public use in preparation for the April 3 referendum.

The Plan Commission refused to act until after the referendum, stating it did not want its recommendation to influence the voters of the Hudson School District. By a wide margin, those voters approved the purchase of the property for purposes of constructing a new high school.

On April 12 following the successful referendum these same parties again went before the Plan Commission to request the commission’s recommendation for approval of rezoning. At this meeting it was apparent that the commission did not want to be influenced by the voters. Its members’ appeared to want to second guess both the school board and the voters. Rather than discussing the impact of re-zoning the property, the commission members proceeded to ask questions which would have been answered had they attended any of the public pre-referendum forums or simply watched those forums on Hudson’s local community cable channel.

At the April 12 meeting, council woman and Plan Commission member, Mary Yacoub was very vocal with her concerns regarding the impact on the city of Hudson taxpayers. Yet, Ms. Yacoub on Aug. 15, 2011, at the City Council meeting spoke of the benefits to city residents that the building of a new bridge over the St. Croix River would bring. She seconded the motion, which was approved, for the city of Hudson to donate $5,000 to the Coalition for the St. Croix River Crossing. That new bridge makes the construction of a new school even more necessary.

My hope is that the school district will be allowed to proceed with the purchase of the property that the voters approved. Once the land is secured the school board and our citizens can dedicate the time it will take to determine the plan that will most efficiently create the new school that will best meet our community’s current and future needs.

Tags: opinion, letters, education