Allan Herschlag lives in Concord.

I find myself in the unusual position of complimenting Mayor Champlin. For the first time that I can remember the city council’s priorities — those issues that affect you that the council will be focusing on for the next two years — were not only discussed in city council chambers and miked, but were broadcast on CTV. Something our former mayor refused to do.

To ensure my praise doesn’t go too much to the mayor’s head, I was disappointed that once again he wants to spend hundreds of thousands of our money to “complete” decorative lighting on Main Street. And one other suggestion: it would have been helpful if the proposed priorities were included in the agenda. But enough nitpicking.

While I would have considered prioritizing some items in a different order, overall the items discussed are all issues the city will have to deal with. The council will have to determine if we should go forward with them and if we can afford them.

I was very impressed with Councilor Foote’s comments regarding subsidies for developers. He pointed out that in other communities developers do not demand the level of tax incentives those building in Concord have come to expect.

A few years ago a developer demanded that Concord provide tax relief for their project or they would go to another community that would cave in to their demands. Two of the developers’ projects were in the downtown TIF district, meaning they paid taxes, but the taxes were used to pay off debt for improvements in the TIF district, not for citywide and school costs. Additionally, the developer demanded tax relief from a program known as 79E, giving the developer approximately $360,000 in tax relief for six years. In layman’s terms, this meant that no new tax revenue would be available for city, school and county services for at least six years. This just doesn’t seem fair to me.

Councilor Foote stated that everyone who owns or develops properties in Concord should be willing to support city, school and county services. I couldn’t agree more strongly with him.

With openings in police, fire, public works, lifeguards, and the recent resignation of our city planner, the discussion revolved around how to retain employees. It certainly hasn’t been for a lack of trying. But finding the balance between affordability and retention is an issue the city still has more work to do.

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Our city manager stated his concern for balancing residential and commercial development. Specifically, the Monitor development that has proposed 944 residential units and 100,000 square feet of retail space. Currently, this area is zoned industrial. The massive amount of traffic this project will add, will potentially necessitate an exit 16 1/2 and provide even more fodder for the state to ram through an eight-lane expansion of I-93. The manager rightly noted that before amending our zoning we should understand how developing this parcel will impact not only revenues, but also expenses.

There was also excellent discussion on updating our zoning. Several council members noted that before taking a band-aid approach to our zoning ordinances, perhaps we should update our master plan. After all, the master plan is what guides our zoning codes. Why would we use a master plan last updated in 2008, as a guide for a revised zoning code? Let’s make sure the horse stays in front of the cart.

There was also discussion on a vision for Loudon Road. Phase 2 of the proposed form-based zoning code expresses a vision for Loudon Road, from East Side Drive to the mall. Unfortunately, it has no basis in reality — past, present or future. It escapes me how we have spent $200,000 on a zoning consultant and are into the seventh year of discussing an update to our zoning and have made little progress.

It was refreshing to hear concerns about preserving the city’s historic character, in the context of how respect for our past bodes well for future successful economic development.

I have only touched on a few of the issues discussed. Public safety, roads and sidewalks, parks and recreation, economic development, homelessness and housing, infrastructure and technology and stabilizing the property tax burden, were among other issues this council will focus on over the next two years.

There are many items that the city needs to address and determine how to pay for. A new police station, renovated or new fire stations, continued improvements to our parks, upgrades and maintenance to our roads, how to balance residential and commercial development. How to address the homeless issue and ensure everyone feels safe in our city. And the list goes on. While it’s important to ensure Concord is a welcoming community, we must also ensure we are an affordable community.

Here’s hoping that we all take the time to attend or watch council and city board meetings and contact our city councilors with our thoughts and concerns. And here’s hoping that the council will listen to us.