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CRA board backs stronger language to 'protect and support' waterfront uses, discusses signage and native plants
Summary
Advisory board members recommended replacing 'encourage' with 'protect and support' for waterfront commercial uses, discussed interpretive signage, native/drought-tolerant plant palettes, and coordination with Main Street and the museum; board agreed to remove 'where practical' language from objectives.
Members of the Community Redevelopment Agency advisory board moved to strengthen the plan language guiding waterfront uses, favoring code-backed protections combined with marketing and programming to sustain working-waterfront businesses.
The board agreed to change an objective that previously used the word "encourage" to read instead that the CRA will "protect and support water-related and water-dependent commercial enterprise." A member argued the word "protect" would encompass zoning and code tools while "support" could include marketing and technical assistance.
On Objective 10, members resolved to drop the phrase "where practical" and to incorporate historic and environmental interpretive signage into the waterfront park design. The board discussed examples from other towns and said Main Street and the local museum are likely partners for content.
For landscape guidance (strategy 10.2), the board recommended replacing the term "indigenous species" with "native species" and preferred language that native, drought-tolerant plants be "evaluated" or "considered" in designs rather than mandated outright. One member said, "I don't think you wanna mandate it," reflecting a desire to let the land development code and design context guide final choices.
The board asked staff to prepare a concise presentation of these decisions for the Oct. 15 commission meeting and to circulate draft slides in advance.
