Mayor Joanne Yepsen unveiled her plans to swap land with Spa City Recycling last night at her first Town Hall Meeting, which she plans to hold all over the city throughout the year.

Because the meeting was on Oak Street, much of the meeting was devoted to proposed zoning changes in the area surrounding the Beekman Street Arts District. 

Many were still confused by the changes and what is going on with them.  Linked are articles explaining both of those things, but in short, the changes would expand commercial opportunities in the Beekman Street Arts District and the surrounding neighborhoods. 

They were shot down by the Planning Board last week, but organizers say they are revising them to make another go of it. 

As for the land-swap (in the same article as the last link), Yepsen wants to trade city-owned land outside the city's core for the roughly quarter acre of land occupied by Spa City Recycling on South Franklin, an idea that drew accolades from the Oak Street crowd at last night's meeting. 

Here's a shot (via Bing.com) of the current block as it exists with Spa City Recycling.

Here is a plan (via Phinney Design) of what they are hoping it will look something like. 

It will eliminate all of the odd pavement surrounding the scrap yard, and obviously the Recycling Center itself. 

Yepsen and the owner of the property have yet to officially talk turkey. I called Spa City Recycling today and asked for someone who could speak to me about the deal. The man who answered told me he didn't want to talk yet, because he hadn't spoken to the mayor. He said I should call back in a week or two. 

The plan above actually involves four property owners in addition to the scrap yard owner, since Cobb Alley is not anywhere near that wide. I'm not sure whether these plans, generated by engineers tied to the effort to expand the Beekman Arts District, actually represent the city's official plan, but they were being distributed at the Town Hall Meeting last night.