New chief of Macomb zoning

Earlier this year, Macomb hired a new community development coordinator -- the public official who's consulted on all things zoning -- named Ed Basch. He comes to Macomb from Burlington, Iowa.

The Macomb Eagle ran a good story about Basch and his approach to the job. How will he handle the multi-family zoning imbroglio? The Eagle story gives some clues:

Basch is aware of the ongoing conflicts between single-family and multi-family residential areas. Having once worked as an administrator for the Village of Savoy, on the edge of Champaign, he said he has experience with student housing issues.

"One of the challenges is, 'How do we best blend and layer different land uses?" he said. "Part of that will be addressed in the comprehensive plan.

"Slowly, over time, I'd like to see less and less situations where an R-1 or R-2 area - single family homes - are directly up against multi-family," he said, cautioning, "That will take time."

I'm curious about Basch's specific proposals on all this. We'll see.