We should’ve seen Motel 6 approval coming

The Cave Creek Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of David Lewis’s Motel 6 to be located in the center of town was not too shocking. Most on that panel rarely have a sense of the community’s wants and desires. What was disturbing was to hear that Town Manager Usama Abujbarah, was shocked that they would approve such a thing. Why not? The commissioners received what they perceived to be “good advice” from that manager and the planning director, and voted accordingly.

Abujbarah and Cordwell now say, after the vote, that it would take a stretch of the imagination to interpret a parking lot on desert rural zoning as good use. If both had done what they are paid for, the case would never have gone to the commissioners. If the commissioners had done their own homework and studied the Town’s Code of Ordinances, they would have sent Mr. Lewis, his Motel 6 and parking lot, packing. One need not be a rocket scientist to serve the public; they simply need to first “do no harm.”

Creekers, how would you vote?

It isn’t a question of private property rights; it has to do with the very codes that protect the town and keep Cave Creek special–and protect against lawsuits. Additionally, desert rural zoning is special and keeps us from becoming Anytown, U.S.A. Contact your council today and ask them to vote “no.” Tell them to follow our codes of ordinance and interpret them in the spirit for which they were written.

Anna Marsolo

Cave Creek