Against Dakota Pacific? Here are your challenges

Last night’s County Council meeting was a show of force regarding Dakota Pacific. Over 800 people took time out of their lives to show up in person and on Zoom. Most of the people who spoke were against it. I was one of those.

Yet, I can’t help but think that the show of force was merely a moral victory. Many of those in attendance would think, “How could the County Council vote for Dakota Pacific when almost 4,000 people have signed a petition against it?” Then they would then think, “800 people showed up online and in person against this effort. How could they vote for it?”

I’ve seen it. All it takes is three yeahs. Then it passes way in to the ether and the County Council moves on to the next thing. The project gets built. No one remembers. Everyone votes Democrat whether they like the local politics of the council member or not. The same people are re-elected. Rinse and repeat.

There is no fear in the heart of the County Council that they are going against popular opinion. That’s because they believe they know more than you do. And they probably do. Except for a select few individuals in our community, they have spent way more time on this project than most of us have.

However, it doesn’t make their opinion right.

That said, their opinion will become law.

Our job, for people against Dakota Pacific, is to understand the concerns they have. We need to find the areas where maybe they aren’t so sure and use research, data, and information to change their opinion beyond a reasonable doubt.

What I learned from last night is that the public’s conjecture about water, transit, affordable housing, and traffic means very little to the Council writ large. The County Council has heard all of that for a year and they are still rocketing towards approval. I think we need to pay attention to what they have said and listen to them for once.

At the end of last night’s meeting, Doug Clyde said that he needed to personally validate the traffic studies done. He feels he has enough experience to look at the data and determine whether there will be more or less traffic with Dakota Pacific’s plan. Likewise, he wanted to delve into the details of developer agreement. If you are against Dakota Pacific, you need to convince Mr Clyde that traffic will be worse under Dakota Pacific and point out other holes in the proposal. He has a developer background. You may assume that would work against the Stop Dakota efforts; however, I believe if the right arguments are presented, that are concrete and factual, he could conclude that this development agreement is not what we want at this point and that the traffic studies were not valid.

County Councilor Malena Stevens did not provide any insight last night into her thought process. However, previously she cited affordable housing as a key element. Likewise, Ms. Stevens represents a different demographic on the County Council. I believe she too listens to the facts. If substantial information is brought to light that proves that this will not provide substantial affordable housing benefits, she could be convinced to vote against the project.

Council Chair Glen Wright has focused on sustainability during his tenure. While he did not speak last night,