Why are they dragging their feet on moving forward on the Foothills Mall?

The process is certainly taking longer than expected, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they are dragging their feet. You try spending $53 million dollars of public money and see how long it takes you.

This is a very large, complicated and expensive project with an awful lot of back and forth. When council approved the financing package back in the spring, the final details had yet to be worked out. Mall developers wanted more money, the city was reluctant. The city wanted the Foothills Activity Center repositioned on the site, that meant different designs and a delay. Negotiations on where to put Sears also delayed things. And, either because of the cost of the project and the city’s unwillingness to give any more money in tax incentives, the project was redesigned with more one-story buildings than two. 

That redesign has now occurred and the project has to go back to the Planning and Zoning board (Thursday) for approval and then back to City Council for reapproval of the financing package. The process is going slower than I suspect either side is happy with, but the delays were more logistical than feet dragging.

But if you're going to spend $53 million, you might as well do it right.

Right?