In a city with many buildings sitting vacant, adding a new strip mall to Mission Street seems like a waste of time, money and resources.

The new mall, to be constructed after the demolition of four obsolete buildings and to include one vacant lot, will cost $1.6 million and be completed at the end of 2008.

But while re-energizing old pieces of property to be both profitable for the city and restored for the use of businesses is a good idea, the building of a fresh strip mall doesn’t really seem necessary when nearby other buildings stand vacant.

One good example is the former home of The Embers Restaurant, 1217 S. Mission St. The building still has nothing in it, even though the restaurant closed about six months ago.

There are vacant medical storefronts all over town, a closed down restaurant 100 yards from The Embers has been vacant.

Mount Pleasant doesn’t need an entire new strip mall in a town already filled with so many. Strip malls with openings for additional business line Mission Street. More store fronts in strip malls on Bluegrass Road are vacant than are filled.

Mount Pleasant already is becoming a consumer mecca; does it need its landscape to look even more like a series of stores surrounding a university?

The answer is no; not when buildings already exist that need to be occupied, and not when Mount Pleasant quickly is becoming more strip mall than small city.

The solution – stricter attention from Mount Pleasant’s Planning Commission and the City Commission on the use of land in the city. Same goes for Union Township and probably even more so.

Redeveloping properties identified as being brownfield, or obsolete because of age and issues like pollution, is an admirable goal, but the city also needs to consider how the land will be used after redevelopment occurs.

Instead of a strip mall, how about split residential development like the one next to Tony’s The Home of the Giant Steak Sandwich, 808 S. Mission St.?

While it is not profitable, dedicated non-profitable zones for museums or other cultural outlets could help the community.

There is just as much reason to point developers and businesses toward already existing property, as well as to redevelop areas that might be considered as brownfield.

Using existing buildings keeps them from languishing throughout the city before they have the chance to become obsolete themselves.

And one of the most compelling reasons might be to keep Mount Pleasant from becoming the land of many strip malls.

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