Concerns from La Vista residents leads to rezoning effort by city planners

LA VISTA, Neb. (WOWT) - It’s a classic dilemma of suburbanization.

A business owner snatches a piece of property with hopes of developing it, bringing jobs, and adding to the tax coffers

But the families who live nearby raise questions. What type of development is it, and will it impact our quality of life?

This is where 6 News investigative reporter Mike McKnight stepped in and spoke to neighbors north and south of the property who had questions for the City of La Vista Planning Commission.

How could families be sure the land wouldn’t be used for a large-scale industrial site, instead of the other smaller businesses already there?

So the city listened and came up with a plan to rezone where the property sits, south of Chandler Road near 144th Street.

“That land is zoned for industrial but we down-zoned it to a more applicable zoning district for that neighborhood, and we believe it works a lot better overall for that neighborhood, and in the end, with public input, I think we’ve come to a solution that works,” City of La Vista Deputy Community Development Director Chris Solberg said. “We want to know what the public wants, our Vision 84 process is a very good example of that, where we went through a planning process to get public input and see what it resulted in, a new downtown for the City of La Vista.”

A representative of the developer told 6 News they had no problems with the down-zoning, and that they wanted the residents in the area to be assured they are simply planning to build small warehousing and light industrial sites similar to what exists directly across Chandler Road.

At this point, no development plans can be submitted until the zoning changes are formally approved.

The City of La Vista Planning Commission recommendations still must be considered by the La Vista City Council. The next council meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 6:00 p.m.

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