The Greeley City Council voted yesterday to postpone a vote on the controversial Rancho Liborio Market.

For those of you not from the Greeley area, the proposed market is slated to be built off 43rd ave a block from the local country club. The area is right off the main (only) artery into the city and in an area where the nearby housing prices are upwards of $275k (median prices in Greeley for August 2006 are $165k).

While rights of the individual property owner are very important, so are the responsibility of local city planners and zoning authorities. The Greeley City Council doesn’t seem to have a grasp on the perpetual impact on property prices and traffic patterns that allowing high volume retail establishments like Wal-Mart (who is across the street from the Country Club) and Rancho Liborio Market can have on the areas. Greeley already has a reputation as a cow town with a gang problem, yet our local government fails to take steps to keep the nicer parts of town nice. Ranto Liborio is quite probably a fine establishment, but Greeley is a big town. Why do they have to build a grocery store that wants to slaughter live chickens smack dab in the middle of one of the nicer neighborhoods in the city?