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Editorials Land Use |
Editorial Entitled
"...And the Clock is
Running!"
We must soon address several pressing community concerns. One of these deals with the paucity of high wage paying jobs in Kerrville. We are essentially a retirement and tourist-oriented city, but historically these industries are characterized as low wage paying. We need high wage paying jobs which will both attract other professionals to our community and provide work for future generations. Yet we seem to be in a reactive, rather than proactive, response to the very term "industry." Our situation with the Pace Corporation is a case in point. In two years, the temporary variance granted to this company at its Bandera Road site will lapse. At that time Pace will have to move to a permanent Kerrville location or else leave the city. With plans that involve the creation of an approximate 250 high wage paying jobs, Pace has the potential to become a leading Kerrville employer. Yet the only sites zoned "industrial" in our city today do not possess the water and sewer infrastructure capable of adequately servicing Pace's projected 170,000 square foot, manufacturing complex. Equally important is protection of the Guadalupe and our water rights to that river. These issues are too complex for government to act unilaterally, and besides, the temptation for government is to seek short term solutions. Wise decision making should cultivate long term, public-private cooperation with government's commitment primarily limited to providing infrastructural assistance, as is needed now for the Pace Corporation. To protect the whole Guadalupe River corridor, all must cooperatively allow some entity to exercise ordinance power from one end of the county to the other. However, while individuals, governments and private organizations "talk a good game," in reality very little is quickly being accomplished vis-a-vis these problems. And the proverbial clock is running.
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