Questions and concerns were raised Tuesday evening at a public hearing on a proposed Missouri enhanced enterprise zone (EEZ) area leaders are seeking to establish. The area within the proposed EEZ extends from the Montgomery County line east along the Interstate 70 corridor to the eastern municipal limits of Wright City. It includes Wright City, Warrenton, Truesdale and Pendleton.Warren County is the lead applicant on the project. A portion of the land which would be part of the enterprise zone is a 131-acre parcel at the intersection of I-70 and Scudder Ranch Road which was chosen by the CertainTeed Corporation for a new 60,000-square-foot shingle production plant and a 150,000-square-foot warehouse facility. Two items were on the board’s agenda last week — a resolution in support of the proposed EEZ draft plan developed by a seven-member advisory board and an ordinance declaring areas within Warrenton blighted due to inadequate street layout. However, Warrenton aldermen tabled both issues in favor of holding a public meeting to allow residents to express support or opposition to the plan and attempt to clarify issues. Action likely will be taken by the board on both items when the aldermen meet Tuesday, May 21. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Steve Etcher, executive director of the Boonslick Regional Planning Commission, previously pointed out that all five entities within the proposed enterprise zone must approve resolutions in support of the draft plan and adopt ordinances declaring the area blighted due to inadequate street layout. If any one of the entities does not approve a resolution or adopt the blight ordinance, the plan will be dropped. Fewer than 20 people attended the meeting. Michelle Schlenther, the city’s economic development director, told The Record that officials at city hall had received a number of phone calls in the days leading up to the meeting, adding that some of those individuals may have gotten their questions answered during those conversations. 'We Need Jobs' Daniel Durbin, a local real estate agent, attended the meeting at the request of city officials to offer his professional opinion on the effects — positive or negative — of the proposal on the area. “I’ve lived and worked in the community for 20 years, and I’ve never seen a time when we needed as much help as we can possibly get,” Durbin remarked. “We need jobs,” he added. “If this brings jobs, I hope people will get behind this.” He added that residents are moving away from Warrenton and the Warren County area because they cannot find jobs. Alderman John Cornell asked Durbin if offering tax abatements to companies or adopting a blighting ordinance would negatively impact residential property values. “When you look around here, everyone has lost $40,000-$80,000 in the values of their homes,” Durbin replied. “We’re already taking a hit. We need to bring the city up.” “Does blighting negatively affect residential home values?” asked Alderman Gary Auch. “I can’t see this having anything but a positive impact,” Durbin said, noting that home foreclosures result in lower home values. Auch also asked if blighting is required to be disclosed when a person sells a home. “People don’t have any idea if an area is blighted,” Durbin said. “It never comes up. They see the area they’re going to be living in. They can tell if it’s blighted or not.” Objections, Concerns Several people attending the meeting voiced their opposition to the plan.“If you look at EEZs, they don’t compare better to towns that don’t have them,” Bev Ehlen claimed. “Residential property owners have the most to lose,” Ehlen added. “Eminent domain is used and abused to bring money into an area.” Etcher explained that the EEZ was being pursued only as an incentive to help attract more and larger employers to the area, noting that each municipality and governmental entity would retain the same authority they already possess. Local zoning codes and municipal ordinances would still be in effect. Cindy Fitch, a resident of the Jonesburg area and a frequent critic of the CertainTeed project and the proposed EEZ, asked which roads were identified to qualify the area for the blight ordinance. Etcher stated that no specific roadways were identified, noting that the roadway system in Warren County in general was used to meet the legal definition of blighting. “If you look around, you see gravel roads, roadways that are narrow or obsolete,” he said. Fitch also contended that companies that relocate to the area and establish operations in the enterprise zone “won’t be paying their fair share of taxes like we do” as a result of the tax credits they will receive. One individual pointed out that Warrenton doesn’t have large tracts of land which could be utilized by manufacturing firms. The EEZ Advisory Board “had Warrenton in mind” when “qualifying businesses” were determined for the area, Etcher stated, noting that call centers and technology firms will be able to apply for tax credits under the program.“I don’t consider our community blighted,” said Al Jones, an area resident. “Blighted means a lot of things to a lot of people for a lot of reasons,” Etcher remarked. “Unfortunately, there is a stigma attached to that term, but this is not an urban or a housing blight.” “The Chesterfield Valley is a blighted area,” said Alderwoman Karen Casserly, adding that the term “blighted” is simply a legal description. “I wish they would use a different word,” Jones said. “Blighted, to me, means everything is torn apart.”