You are going to see a major apartment building under construction this summer behind Granny's Closet. You may think (because of a well-publicized campaign to "Stop the Hub") that the City Council voted that down. Well, you would be right and wrong, and this all has to do with zoning codes. The Hub purchased the property and is entitled by the current zoning code to build a four- to five- story apartment structure. The current zoning code and the flood plain mandates a plain foundation wall … [Read more...] about Was the Hub Stopped?
Jerry Nabours
Lessons Learned from the State Legislature
This is the second part of my story about trying to make legislative changes to state law. Last month, I wrote about the issue of a small business renting some retail or office space. If that business wants to build any interior walls, an architect must draw up the plans. Why? State law. This is costly in time and money. So, to help small businesses, I had our state representative, Brenda Barton, introduce a bill to make an exception to the architect requirement for tenant space with no … [Read more...] about Lessons Learned from the State Legislature
Helping Small Businesses at the State Legislature
Working on a bill in the state legislature has been an interesting experience. First, let me tell you about the problem I am trying to solve, then I will get to the legislative process. If you are a small business that needs some retail or office space, you will know the problem. A landlord shows you some rental space that has a front door, four walls and a restroom. You need to build some partition walls, move a few lights, add a sink, and you will be ready to do business. You go to the city … [Read more...] about Helping Small Businesses at the State Legislature
What is Flagstaff’s Reputation?
William Franke, an international businessman (and namesake of the NAU Business College), spoke last month at the Alliance Bank Economic Outlook Conference. He said some countries have so many layers of bureaucracy and so many overlapping and conflicting regulations that it is not worth it to invest in doing business there. He mentioned some countries by name as examples of places to stay away from. That got me thinking. Is there a speaker at a seminar somewhere that is saying that about … [Read more...] about What is Flagstaff’s Reputation?
City Council Drowning in Water Issues
We have started into a series of public meetings about our water rates and whether they need to be raised. That question has brought up many more questions. With houses, we charge more per gallon as you use more gallons. This is done to get you to conserve water. Should we also charge commercial and manufacturing on a sliding scale like that? My position is no. If a manufacturer is using more water, that means more production, more money into Flagstaff, more jobs. If a hotel is using more … [Read more...] about City Council Drowning in Water Issues