[Vision2020] NSA/Verizon/Zoning Trouble Timeline (was: Who started it? Who cares?)

[Joan Opyr]

On 16 Dec 2005, at 16:31, bill bonte wrote:

> Speaking of who started it, what was the origin of the NSA zoning 
> mess.  I have read vision2020 and the daily news for the past 2 years 
> and I still am not clear on two points.
>
> 1.     Didn't the realtor who sold the building to NSA know that the 
> planned use was a violation of the zoning ordinance?  Shouldn't she 
> bear some (financial) responsibility for this mess?
>
>
> 2.   Why didn't the city intervene and forbid the use of the property 
> as a college.  Did they know what was to be done with the property or 
> was NSA's opening a surprise?   If I open a small grocery store in my 
> garage, zoned R-2,   I'm sure I'd be issued a zoning violation 
> citation and forced to close.
>
> I seems so simple to me:  the CBD is not zoned for a college, close 
> them down!
>
> Bill Bonte

Hi Bill,

This is the timeline of events, as best I recall:

1. The Verizon Building was sold by Bennett Realty, specifically by 
Shelly Bennett.  (I may be spelling her first name wrong.  Perhaps it's 
Shelley?)  There was more than one bid for the building, and Doug 
Wilson's was the lowest, not the highest.  Why NSA won is anyone's 
guess.  A tax write-off for Verizon because they sold to a non-profit.  
(Yes, I know; that opens up another can of worms.)

2. At the time of the Verizon sale, New St. Andrews was located -- 
illegally -- in the home of Chris Schlect on Polk Street.  The City 
told Schlect and company that they could not operate a college in this 
residential zone.  The college continued to operate in that location 
until the Verizon/Skattaboe Building was renovated and ready to be 
occupied.

3. NSA moved into the Verizon/Skattaboe Building.  They did not get and 
do not now have an occupancy permit.

4. Three evangelical Christians -- two former NSA students and one 
ex-member of Christ Church -- filed a zoning complaint against NSA on 
the grounds that educational institutions are prohibited in the Central 
Business District.  Why?  Because the CBD was created to prevent the 
encroachment of the U of I on downtown retail space.  This happened in 
the wake of the U of I's purchase of the old Murdock's Tavern and 
Cavenaugh's Hotel.

5. Joel Plaskon ruled on behalf of the City that the complaint filed 
against NSA was without merit or some such.  (Mike Curley, the attorney 
for the three plaintiffs, will perhaps supply the correct terminology.)

6.  Plaskon's ruling was appealed.  The City Council then voted 4 to 2 
that NSA could not, in fact, be located in the Central Business 
District under current zoning code.

7.  Someone or ones set in motion the current attempt to amend the city 
zoning code so that NSA could remain downtown.  I attended several city 
planning and zoning meetings, ably chaired by Jerry Schutz, who earned 
my eternal respect for his exemplary conduct of those hearings, during 
which everyone was hot under the collar and pretty damned feisty.  He 
never lost his cool or, more importantly, his sense of humor and 
proportion.  (I think Jerry is a Republican, so coming from this 
Democrat, this praise is high praise indeed.)

8.  Planning and Zoning made a host of recommendations re: amending 
city code to allow NSA downtown.  The City Council rejected those and 
bounced the whole thing back to P & Z, which worked again on this 
thankless task.  The fight now seems to be about parking rather than a 
straight up-or-down should colleges be allowed in the Central Business 
District.

I say no; some say yes; others don't seem to give a tinker's damn.  I 
envy the latter group because they're not tempted to kick one another's 
teeth down one another's throat over this issue.  I'm sure they fight 
about other things -- whether or not Moscow needs a ring road; water 
mining; the proposed ball fields.  Who knows?  We're all different, and 
different things push our buttons.

(Mine are pushed by people who call my friends "simpering douche bags." 
  I'm funny that way.  I also don't much care for hectoring lurkers who 
get hold of the wrong end of the stick and then proceed to lecture me 
on bullying.  I'm glad I don't have Kathy Sprague's nerve in my tooth.)

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.joanopyr.com

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 4307 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20051216/07437cff/attachment-0001.bin