Continue to let other communities host marijuana dispensaries.
The library is widely used by students and adults alike. Parks and recreation provide healthy activities for residents of all ages. Lower crime helps Troy stay family friendly. Our volunteer fire department is much less expensive than having a professional force.
Troy already has good fiscal discipline. I will propose an inflation-adjusted 1% cut in budgets for 5 years. That might allow a property tax cut and help people who are struggling with inflation. Each department can look for creative ways to economize.
We need to remember we are spending other people’s money!
Troy has very little undeveloped land and we want to have developments that fit in with the nearby neighbors, ideally that they are happy with. We don’t want new four-story apartment buildings overlooking backyard swimming pools. We may need some changes in the zoning laws to remedy this. The 20-acre development proposed at last council meeting had over 140 single family dwellings. It might meet the current zoning laws but cries out for changes to not put five hundred people on a postage stamp.
It would be nice if new housing developments left most of the backyards forested for the wildlife. I am thinking of south of Square Lake, west of John R. Also south of South Blvd and west of Crooks. The Fox Run senior citizens development in Novi left a lot of woods and wetlands for the residents to enjoy.
• We can also encourage apartments and condos to have recycling.
• Maintenance costs in city buildings could benefit from large rolls of toilet paper like many businesses already have.
• Automatic faucets too, where we don’t already have them.