Diane Moca: The Aurora City Council approved a plan to build storage units and a car wash at the site of the old Carson store on Lake Street, despite strong opposition from many residents who showed up at the council meeting. Matthew Orr: This development is not the type of development that is described in the city's master plan. This property could easily be used for business use and bring good jobs to the city of Aurora utilizing state and federal grants, as well as the fiber that runs along Indian Trail. A car wash and storage facility will ultimately create a dead zone in the heart of the Sixth Ward, something I do not want. The city needs to reevaluate this project, purchase back the property, and correctly market the facility. Thank you. Peter Wagner: It does not appear that the space was adequately marked to attract the best businesses possible to enhance this part of the city of Aurora. Matt Bravo: I support the plan as it has been proposed and I'm thrilled to see that we have a business willing to take on the massive challenge and investment to get that property to a better state. Donna Zine: I'm asking you to do the right thing. Reject these projects, meet with us, the citizens, and work together with us to create a better plan. Speaker 7: Thank you very much, ma'am. Diane Moca: Donna Zine lives in the neighborhood adjacent to the property. When she asked everyone who opposed the proposal to stand, more than half the crowd rose to their feet. After seven people spoke against the plan and two in favor, council ended public comment despite others on the list who wanted to share their dissatisfaction with the redevelopment and the request for more time to find a better alternative, which was proposed by Alderman Michael Saville. Michael Saville: I want you make an amendment for all these four items, that we place this on hold for the next six months. Diane Moca: Support for the delay was split six to six and mayor Richard Irvin cast the tie breaking vote, killing the option to explore other alternatives. Michael Saville: I don't think talking would've hurt anything, whether the timeframe would've been to speed up the development or slow it down. I think it would've been a good opportunity to be able to have a dialogue and which was, as we know, voted down. Diane Moca: How do you respond to citizens who feel like their voice just isn't being heard and their opinions aren't being respected in a situation like this? Michael Saville: Well, I think half the council heard it. We were hoping for half the council plus one. You don't have too many votes this close. So it shows that there were members of the council willing to sit, listen, and act, and vote accordingly. Diane Moca: Now the citizens said they were very happy that you made this proposal, but they were disappointed that they didn't even hear about this until May, even though this proposal had been in the works for a couple years. And they are concerned that part of that was because you weren't in communication with them about this. Why did it take so long to inform your District about this plan? Michael Saville: Well, the last neighborhood meeting that I have, and I have one every year for a town hall meeting, was in 2019 and it was presented there. And everybody has an opportunity to attend the town hall meeting. And then COVID hit. And I found out in April that this was moving forward and acted accordingly. Diane Moca: Alderman Saville said staff was meeting with the developers during those couple years before most residents knew about the Storage of America's plans. For TalkingCities, I'm Diane Moca.