City Council Meeting

 Listening to the city council meeting tonight

LCC meeting

Hollywood Lounge on the north side of the square got cited for locking the doors during business hours, which is a violation of the fire code. The owner, Bobby McBride, said there was an altercation at 1:30 a.m. on the premises. According to the discussion, McBride escorted one person causing problems outside and locked the doors behind them to prevent them re-entering, then escorted the other participant  and the remaining customers out the side door and shut down the bar for the night. 

The council voted to waive the $300 cost and letter of reprimand associated with the incident, leaving Hollywood Lounge with a clean slate. there being no citizen comments, the LCC meeting was adjourned.

City Council Meeting

Citizen comments from a father about his son's suicide in the Gaslight Apartments, arguing that there was not a proper investigation of his death and asking the council to open an investigation into it. Chief Reno says an investigation is ongoing.

Report from the manager of the Carbondale Warming Center which has served over 47,000 meals so far. Vision is to provide more supported housing for clients, currently trying to stabilize as many people as they can. Seen more families in the previous six months than in all the prior time they were open.

Presentation on the design of the planned multi-modal transportation center. Looks as if it will have three towers, one with a clock,  on top of it with a more "contemporary" design for the traffic slips. i rather thought the down town was supposed to have buildings with a more traditional than contemporary design. Citizen comment is that how does this design enhance downtown Carbondale as an "arts and entertainment" district.

Warrants approved

Discussion of allowing rentals without an owner on site, AKA Air B&B via changing the zoning codes. Concerns about turning properties into essentially hotels but owners say they can purchase the property use them as short term rentals to make them profitable and justify improving the property and investing in Carbondale. Rental market very difficult to make a go of in Carbondale. Concerns about gatekeeping by the City and enforcement of long term rental property codes, arguing that the problem is not with AirB&B properties but with long term rental properties. there are landlords who do a very good job of maintaining their properties but also a lot of landlords who do a poor job of maintaining them. Now requesting a trial period for the rezoning to see what happens. Given the track record of some Carbondale Landlords, probably it would not end well. Interestingly, as written, the proposed resolution does not exclude any districts in the city. Council  votes to send the proposal to the planning commission for additional evaluation with an amendment excluding districts R2 and R3

Council going on break for 10 minutes. Going to call it a night and catch the entertainment district discussion replay tomorrow.