If City Council members didn’t already have their summer reading planned, they have plenty on their plate with a city staff report prepared last month on plans for the proposed Arambel Business Park and KDN Business Retail Center.

The massive business park projects — which would together take up 1.75 square miles of land, an area equivalent to 30 percent of the city of Patterson’s present size — are described in an equally gargantuan report from city staff members, totaling more than 1,000 pages.

While the project has been in the works for several years, council members still have a great deal of information to review in a short time as they prepare for a special meeting July 23.

These two business parks are an exciting joint venture — possibly the most exciting economic development opportunity facing the city of Patterson in the next few years. That’s why it’s important that council members study the plans closely and ask tough questions of project representatives and city staff members next week.

Talks should cover traffic and environmental impacts, as well as specifics of the myriad conditions of approval listed in city documents. County public works officials raised concerns about problems with traffic flow, so city and county representatives would be wise to meet with project officials on that subject before next week’s meeting, if they have not done so.

It’s clear that business park developers worked hard on their plans and included measures to make them more palatable, such as a commitment to preserve one acre of the region’s agricultural land for each acre that is developed. Such features are commendable. Yet it still behooves our city leaders to scrutinize the plans and ensure they are the best they can possibly be.

These are projects with tremendous potential, and they need to be done right.