Town Accepts Vice Mayor's Resignation

Town accepts vice mayor’s resignation
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By Keith Walker

Published: March 16, 2008

Haymarket’s Town Hall was a busy place Thursday night.

The town council voted to accept the resignation of Vice Mayor John C. Cole, who is in Iraq as a civilian employee of the a U.S. Department of Defense.

The council also scheduled a public hearing for April 7 to discuss Gerry Kennedy’s resubmitted proposal to build the Haymarket Towne Centre.

In a letter to the council, Cole said he has been following the on-and-off progress of the Haymarket Town Centre project and felt that the matter needed the attention of a full town council.

Town manager Gene Swearingen read Cole’s letter into the record.

“I have been monitoring the Town Centre development situation from Baghdad and realize the critical nature of upcoming council decisions. These decisions require the full complement of council members to be present at the meetings, and so it is with a heavy heart that I must tender my resignation as councilman,” the letter stated.

Cole wrote in the letter that his resignation was in “the best interest of Haymarket.”

Cole’s resignation left the council free to appoint someone to finish out his term.

Haymarket Mayor Pamela E. Stutz called for residents who were interested in filling Cole’s position to present their reasons for wanting to serve in writing to the council by April 2.

The matter will be on the council’s April 7 agenda, Stutz said.

Cole will remain a candidate for another term on the council. His name will appear on the ballot in May’s election.

The town hall was packed with supporters speaking in favor of the proposed town center development with two new buildings to house 15 to 18 new businesses and a 37,000-square-foot walking plaza with a fountain at Jefferson and Washington streets.

The supporters said the new businesses in Haymarket would make all businesses in the town more successful, decrease the tax burden on town residents and promote a better walking atmosphere in the town.

A couple of area business owners said a lack of space was keeping them from moving their businesses to Haymarket.

Kennedy pulled out of the deal in late February when the Haymarket Planning Commission decided not to forward his proposal to the town council.

Kennedy said the denial put his timetable, and therefore his investors, at risk.

In the intervening time his investors decided they could live with a delay, Kennedy said.

“They’re all good,” he said.

The planning commission denied Kennedy’s proposal because plans for a turn lane into a proposed 138-space parking lot on Jefferson Street were not included.

Up until the denial things had been going smoothly, Kennedy said.

“The council and the members of the staff and up to that juncture — the planning commission itself —was really very cooperative, but we hit that bump and it staggered it a bit,” he said.

Kennedy said public sentiment for the project was what led him to reconsider.

“The amount of support for this has just been overwhelming — by businesses and the community — so we thought it would be best if we could get this thing back on track,” he said.

Dave Salman, of Salman Home Realty in Gainesville, was one of Kennedy’s supporters. He was pleased that the council will reconsider the proposal.

“I think it was good to reiterate what the public’s opinion is and that is that the majority of the residents of north Gainesville and Haymarket want the project here,” the 31-year-old Salman said.

Councilman Oswald Vazquez said he likes it when so many people come to council meetings to voice their opinions.

“I wish it was like this all the time,” he said. “When people show up here like this, we can get input so that we know that we’re going the right way and we’re voting in what people want.”