Backing off on lot fees sends wrong message

It continues to baffle us about the fuss being made over a new fee structure for vacant lot owners who do nothing with them.
Some of these lot owners have been huffing and puffing, at recent city council meetings, about being financially penalized for not developing them.
Why in the world would anyone allow a lot they own to just sit there year after year with no plan to turn it into anything?
What are they waiting for?
The city administration is sending out a clear message to these stubborn folks: Use it or lose it.
The city desperately needs to expand its tax base, and one key way to do that is to encourage new housing development.
Plenty of other folks are buying up city-owned lots at $10,000 each with firm plans to build housing units. In case you missed it, the metro area and the country are experiencing a housing shortage, and the demand for housing is huge.
Unfortunately, we are hearing some city council members, and even the mayor, now wanting the city to back off from imposing these extra fees.
Why?
Because a few stubborn lot owners are whining at council meetings.
One sympathetic excuse we have heard, from city officials, is that although people can afford to purchase a lot, they can’t afford to do anything past that.
Again, it begs the question: Why are people buying a vacant lot with zero plans to develop it?
Come on, elected officials, grow a spine and support the city administration’s efforts to bring in new tax money — and also, be a solution to the housing a shortage.
Posted March 8, 2024