Klima said she missed the May 5 city commission meeting because she was attending public meetings regarding the city's ongoing comprehensive plan process. She was surprised when she heard about the action the commission took.

"I hadn't received any questions or calls on it, so I assumed that the action would go forward, since it had not only been through this body but the planning commission body," Klima told her board of directors. "So (Monday) I did express my consternation at the process at, I guess, the lack of recognition of the processes we have gone through."

That's bogus

Klima said she spoke with three of the five city commissioners, including Abner Perney, who suggested the commission remove those business uses from the list because studies have shown that they tend to depress the values of properties around them.

"She said we failed in the procedure, which is bogus," Perney said of his conversation with Klima regarding SDI's recommendation. "It's advice, and it's up to the commission whether it wants to take that advice."

Commissioner Luci Larson, who said she didn't hear from anyone at SDI about the matter, agreed with Perney that the commission owes no apologies because it decided to forgo the recommendations from SDI and the planning commission.

"I am not saying those people did not do work and spend hours analyzing that," said Larson, who joined Perney and Alan Jilka in approving the tougher regulations. "I just feel it's another opinion that's gone into the pot. I'm sorry that they feel that we didn't value their opinion or their process. That is not the point that I meant to get across."

Larson, co-owner of Action Travel in downtown Salina and an SDI member, said she approached her decision from the perspective of a downtown businesswoman.

"I started looking at some of those conditional uses and thought, 'What would I really not want next door to me?' " Larson said on Tuesday. "I understand that during the (conditional use) process, I'm allowed to go speak against it. But even if I speak against it, if the (planning) commissioners aren't against it at the time, they might let him in.

"I had to stop and think, 'If I am going to lose this argument, I'd better step up to that plate.' Why am I not entitled to my opinion and the way I feel about it?"

Perney said Hinrikus' point was moot, because it's highly unlikely that the businesses included in the city commission action would develop the type of "big time" operation Hinrikus had mentioned at the SDI meeting.

"It's fine to have them prohibited, as far as I'm concerned," Perney said. "Nobody's going to build a $2 million tattoo parlor."

Grants awarded

The SDI board voted to approve grants and forgivable loans to five downtown businesses and agencies as part of SDI's newly expanded development incentive program. The grants don't have to be repaid, and the loans are forgiven incrementally as long as the business is in operation.

First Asset Financial, 110 E. Iron, received a $1,113 grant for a $3,340 project to install awnings; Taco John's, 303 S. Santa Fe, received a grant of $3,488 last fall and one of $3,499 this year for a $50,764 exterior renovation project; DVACK, 203 S. Santa Fe, received a $971 grant for a $2,915 exterior painting project; Richardson Developments received a $15,000 forgivable loan to do a complete renovation at 134 S. Santa Fe; and Southwind Physical Therapy, 141-143 S. Fifth, received a $14,881 forgivable loan to do a $37,202 improvement project.

n Reporter Darrin Stineman can be reached at 822¬­-1416 or by e-mail at dstine man@salina.com.